


Lost and Found

by PhoenixWrites



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: AU season 8 onwards, Callie Torres POV, Calzona - Centric, F/F, Not really sure if this was a good idea, Plane Crash Reboot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:15:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 41,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27993630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixWrites/pseuds/PhoenixWrites
Summary: How do you overcome an event that changes your life drastically? How do you find something lost when you don't even remember it? When the darkness starts to creep in, how do you crawl your way back to the light?Plane Crash AU. What if a last minute change in the conjoined twins surgery in Idaho ended up needing an orthopedic surgeon? Callie ends up going on the plane with the rest of the team, and Arizona still punishes Alex for accepting the fellowship at Hopkins and takes his place on the plane. This follows canon until the last parts of Season 8, season 9 and beyond are AU.
Relationships: Arizona Robbins/Callie Torres, Lexie Grey/Mark Sloan, Meredith Grey/Derek Shepherd
Comments: 93
Kudos: 121





	1. The one where the ortho goddess takes charge

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Grey's Anatomy and all of its characters are creations of Shonda Rhimes and property of ABC network. This work does and will not generate any profit, it is purely fan fiction and will not be published for profit in any form.
> 
> Calzona centric with various glimpses of Slexie, MerDer and a lot of Cristina Yang awesomeness. Most of the story will be told from Callie’s point of view, but there will be times where other POVs will get mixed in as well. 
> 
> This is my first fanfic here in AO3!  
> READ, RATE, AND REVIEW! Tell me if it's a good idea to keep this going

Chapter 1: The one where an ortho goddess takes charge

Callie gathered with the rest of the attendings scanning the interesting collection of X-Rays and other films in front of them. It was a special request from a hospital in Boise regarding conjoined twins. After their success in separating adult conjoined twins, Seattle Grace Mercy West was once again thrust into the limelight of medicine, earning their hospital more prestige and giving their already inflated egos even more hot air. The orthopedic surgeon stayed back, rolling her eyes as Shepherd and Sloan voiced their opinions loudly while bragging about their specialty. No one so far was paying any attention to the skeletal X-Rays after Shepherd had briefly discussed the spinal fusion before moving on.

As the only orthopedic expert in the room, Callie was the only one who saw every complication on the children's bones. The brunette bit her lip in concentration as she tried to make sense of the mess of fused bone structure from the pelvis up to the shoulders, turning her head from side to side, Callie decided to walk closer to the X-Ray. Only Arizona and Richard seemed to notice this action, turning their full attention to the orthopedic surgeon while Shepherd and Sloan continued to occupy everyone else's focus.

"Something wrong, Torres?" Richard was the first to speak, his deep voice cut through Mark's explanation about skin grafts. This finally caught chief Hunt's attention, and the rest of the group. They all turned to Callie, who was yet to peel her eyes away from the scan.

Pointing towards the pelvic fusion, Callie started explaining. "Look at this. The whole left pelvic region of baby A is completely fused with the right pelvic region of baby B, and their leg sockets are so close together… and look at the spine. They're not just fused together, they share at least three vertebral bones, and the shoulders are also fused. This skeletal system is a mess," and an orthopedic surgeon's dream, Callie added in her head.

"What do you suggest then, Dr. Torres?" This time it was Hunt who spoke up.

Frowning, Callie finally turned around. Everyone in the room who knew how Callie Torres operated could see the gears turning in her head as she swept her gaze to the floor, one hand immediately coming up to run through thick dark locks, the other fidgeting with the ring on her finger. To Arizona, Mark, Cristina, and Bailey, this was what the Latina usually does when she's trying to solve a puzzle. Arizona lovingly called it her Sudoku face. "Umm… I'll need to be there, chief. You need an orthopedic surgeon for this."

Owen Hunt frowned. There were already too many doctors in on this case, he was reluctant to send in another, especially his only competent orthopedic surgeon. "I can't send half of my department heads out to Boise, Torres."

Callie looked up off the floor, staring straight at Owen. "And how many doctors in this room can say that they can separate these bones without causing damage? Can anyone else here carve out new pelvic and shoulder structures from whatever little bone will be left once you separate them? If anyone else in this room can carve bones from titanium and not leave these babies crippled, then I will stay here. Anyone?"

Every doctor in the room found various things around the room suddenly very interesting. The floor, the ceiling, the scans, their hands. Everyone had always looked down on ortho, so most of these doctors had never bothered to brush up on their orthopedic knowledge. Callie didn't even have an orthopedic resident or a fellow to teach because no one wanted to be associated with the medical equivalent of carpentry, even with Callie's reputation as the inventor of artificial cartilage. Owen sighed in defeat, it was true. No one knew as much as Callie about bones. "Alright, Torres. You're going with the team to Boise. So that would be Shepherd, Sloan, Torres, the Grey sisters, Yang, and Karev…"

The rest of the meeting went smoothly after that, chief Hunt highlighted everything they needed to bring with them to the plane, which now included a set of orthopedic instruments. Callie hung back again, turning her attention to the X-Ray. The orthopedic goddess was too busy trying to come up with a plan that she didn't notice her wife coming up to her until small slender arms wrapped around Callie's waist from behind.

The orthopedic surgeon smiled and turned around in the smaller woman's arms, "hello there, Mrs. Robbins-Torres."

Arizona smiled, leaning up on her toes to whisper in her wife's ear. "That was very hot, mrs. Robbins-Torres. Maybe I should join you in Boise instead of Karev so I can watch my hot ortho goddess wife at work?" The question was followed by a suggestive smirk and a shoulder shake, their unspoken language for sex.

Callie smirked and wrapped her arms around her wife's waist. The Latina had noticed that everyone was gone, probably checking on their services or doing checks of the things they needed to bring for the trip to Boise tomorrow.

"You know… I always wanted to do it here. We've never done it in this room, I know you enjoyed doing it in my lab." The Latina's smile widened when she saw her wife's eyes darken with desire.

Arizona pulled Callie down by her neck, pink lips attacking plump red as the two surgeons battled for dominance. Hands started wandering and soon, both doctors shed their lab coats, but Arizona pulled back before things could go further. "Lock the door and close the blinds, Calliope." The peds surgeon's voice and the need and lust she heard there was enough for Callie to comply immediately.

Once safe behind a locked door and from gossipy eyes, both surgeons wasted no time in joining their lips in a passion-filled kiss. Callie's hands immediately drop down to Arizona's ass, kneading and squeezing as she pulled the blonde closer. Arizona gasps at the contact, letting out a moan that shoots jolts of pleasure straight to Callie's core. 

Arizona slowly breaks off their kiss, her lips trailing wet kisses down Callie's jaw and to her pulse point, nipping at the soft skin there before soothing it with her tongue. All the while, the blonde's hands travel under the Latina's scrubs and undershirt, fingers lightly scratching at the soft skin she finds there, eliciting a lustful moan from Callie. Soon, pale hands cup two full breasts over a lacy bra. "Off," Arizona ordered, pulling away from Callie's neck to tug off her shirt and scrub top. The ortho surgeon wordlessly complies before she also tugs off the blonde's scrub top. Left in only their bras and pants, both women take their time to rake their eyes over the other's exposed skin.

People had always claimed that marriage could kill your sex life, but clearly they've never met Callie and Arizona. Both women were busy surgeons and highly respected in their own field, which made them busy but not enough for the spark to die down. It seemed that ever since their marriage and even with a baby to take care of, both women had been able to find time and steal moments like this to make out in between surgeries or even have sex behind locked doors. Lately, Arizona seemed to be turned on even more by her wife's assertive and badass air within the hospital, and Callie also found herself wanting the blonde almost everyday.

The two once again met in a heated kiss, hands once against freely exploring the exposed skin. Callie's hands gravitated lower once again, but this time she grabbed the backs of Arizona's thighs and lifted her up. With a yelp of surprise, Arizona's legs automatically wrapped about a tan waist. "Calliope! What…" Arizona didn't get to finish her protest as Callie's lips found hers again. Slowly, Callie walked forward until they both felt the surface of a nearby table. Putting her wife down, the ortho surgeon broke their kiss and looked at Arizona with a smirk. "I want you right now, baby. I need to taste you, right now. So these," tan fingers started toying with the strings of Arizona's scrub pants, "need to come off."

The blonde peds surgeon didn't need to be told twice as she lifted her hips to help Callie pull down her pants along with her underwear. Task done, the ortho surgeon gave her wife one more kiss before kneeling down and spreading Arizona's legs. "You smell so good, baby. I could eat you all day." The Latina inhaled as her senses were attacked by the heady scent of her wife's arousal. The Latina moaned in delight as she saw the wet folds of the blonde. Slowly, Callie started kissing and playfully nipping Arizona's inner thighs, making the blonde squirm above her. One tan hand found purchase underneath the blonde's red lace bra, squeezing and tweaking a pebbled nipple while the other hand parted her wife's folds, exposing Arizona even more to Callie.

"Fuck me already, please." Arizona rarely begged, except when it was her wife teasing her mercilessly like this.

Callie looked up at Arizona before she answered, "your wish is my command, mi amor." And it certainly was as Callie's lips latched on to a hardened clit, gently kissing and sucking the small nub before a pink tongue started flicking over the sensitive clit. Her unoccupied hand joined the action soon after by inserting one finger to slowly plunge in and out of Arizona's entrance. "Oh god oh god, more Callie. Fuck! More… harder… faster! Shit!" More curses and pleas came out of Arizona's mouth as Callie readily complied, adding another finger and increasing her her thrusts. A pale hand urging her head up had Callie standing and capturing Arizona's lips in a searing kiss, her thrusts never wavering. Her other hand was now holding the blonde's lower back to support her as their love making intensified. The room is now filled with muffled moans and groans from Arizona as Callie's lips prevent too much noise from escaping. The blonde was very vocal in bed and it was always a great turn on for the Latina, not to mention a big ego boost especially with how responsive her wife was to her touch.

Callie increased her speed even more when she felt the inner walls of her wife start to contract, signalling her coming release. Breaking away from the kiss, Callie used her thumb to apply pressure on her wife's clit. Arizona moaned even louder now, leaning her head down against Callie's shoulder, trying to muffle her voice so as not to let the other hospital staff know what was happening inside the room. "Come for me, Arizona," the Latina said.

Arizona gasped before she bit down hard on Callie's shoulder, legs locking up and her whole body shuddering as a powerful orgasm ripped through her body. The Latina slowed down her thrusts, letting the blonde ride out her high. Callie felt the pain on her shoulder, but didn't really mind. This wasn't the first time that Arizona had bitten her on the shoulder to muffle a scream as she came, and the ortho surgeon would take a hundred bruises as long as she got to give her wife immense pleasure. Callie slowly pulled her fingers out as she felt Arizona relax, licking her wet digits and savoring the sweet taste of her wife as she let her recover.

After a few seconds, Arizona leaned back, giving Callie a full dimpled smile. "I love you, Calliope Iphegenia Robbins-Torres."

Callie smiled, giving her wife a soft, sweet kiss before answering. "I love you too Arizona Michelle Robbins-Torres."

Both surgeons were quiet for a minute, just sharing a loving embrace while Arizona still recovered from her mind numbing orgasm. Soon enough, Arizona started peppering kisses against Callie's jaw and neck, nipping at the Latina's pulse point down to her collarbone. The peds surgeon hopped down from the table before turning them around and pushing Callie against it. "I believe it's your turn, my love." Arizona was just starting to undo the strings of Callie's scrub pants when both their pagers sounded off. Both women groaned, both frustrated at the poor timing. "911 at the pit. Ugh…! We'll definitely take care of you later, Calliope. For now, we're going to save lives." Dressing quickly and fixing each other's appearance, both doctors exited the room once they were presentable and quickly made their way to the pit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, so this is my very first uploaded fanfic here on AO3! What did you think? 
> 
> I have absolutely no medical knowledge apart from what Google will tell me, so sorry for any mistakes you may find here.
> 
> Please tell me what you think and should I continue this?


	2. Chapter 2: The one where the head of peds snaps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the one where the head of pediatric surgery finally snaps because of ungrateful residents and dying friends. The orthopod walks in just in time to offer comfort and protection. The Boise trip starts.

It was finally the day of the trip to Boise. All surgeons who were tasked to go to Boise were getting ready, Lexie being the only junior resident was running around getting everything together for the trip with the help of Meredith and Cristina. Derek, Mark, and Callie were in the conference room once again with Chief Hunt to go over the surgical plan one more time. Alex was up in peds, doing last-minute checks on patients. He'd never admit it, but the so-called 'evil spawn' of his resident class was a natural pediatric surgeon which was why it wasn't even a question for him to accept the fellowship that Johns Hopkins had offered him for pediatric surgery. Johns Hopkins was the top pediatric hospital, and Alex was completely blown away that they actually wanted him.

The hospital's wards were busy on that day, and with seven surgeons going out, three of whom were attending surgeons and heads of their respective departments, everyone was scrambling for temporary replacements. Callie's department was the one hit hardest as the orthopedic surgery wing of Seattle Grace Mercy West had the least amount of residents and attendings, especially with the lack of interest from the current crop of interns and residents to specialize in ortho. Callie needed to hustle and reschedule a lot of her surgeries for the next day, only having one other orthopedic attending on her staff at the moment, the orthopedic wing of SGMW needed to be sorted out.

It was two hours before their flight that Callie was finally able to go to pediatrics to check on her wife before she left. Callie and Arizona agreed to meet up before Callie's and the others' flight out to Boise, almost as a good luck thing. The car accident was still fresh in Arizona's mind, and Callie knew her wife needed extra assurance that she would be coming back. Arizona had been under a lot of stress lately, especially with the case of her brother's best friend with advanced stage Osteosarcoma. The Latina exited the elevator, intent on giving her wife one lasting hug and more words of reassurance about her return when she heard Arizona's raised voice.

"...kidding me!? No! You know what!? You're not going to Boise!" Callie picked up her pace and witnessed Alex looking enraged as Arizona turned around and headed straight for Callie. The ortho surgeon raised an eyebrow in question but the blonde just grabbed her hand and dragged her off back into the elevator.

When they got in, Arizona angrily pushed the button for the ground floor. "Arizona…" Callie spoke, coming up behind her wife to rub her shoulders. Instead, the blonde turned around and threw herself into her wife's arms, burying her face into the warmth of Callie's chest, Arizona started to sob. "Hey, baby. It's alright. I'm right here. What did Karev do now?" She asked softly, rubbing soothing circles on her wife's back.

"I'm mad. That ungrateful… he… he decided to go to Hopkins without even so much as a notice, and and… I was grooming him, Calliope! I was training him to be my protege, the next me! How could he… he didn't even consider… and Nick! He just disappears and now he's dying and it's… men are the worst." The muffled rant from her wife was almost hard for Callie to hear but she understood enough to deduce the reason for her wife's foul mood as of late. This time, words wouldn't be enough of reassurance, so the ortho surgeon stayed silent and just comforted Arizona as they rode the elevator down.

"I know, honey. Men are the worst. So… does this mean you're going to Boise instead of Alex?" Callie asked, pulling back a little to see her wife's face. Arizona looked up and nodded before a look of horror took over. "Oh no! Mark and you and now me. Who will take care of Sofia?" The blonde worried her lip at the prospect of leaving their infant daughter alone. 

Callie sighed and placed her hands on the blonde's cheeks. "It's okay, baby. We can ask Meredith if her sister-in-law won't mind watching Sofia either or Bailey. I'm sure Bailey wouldn't mind, Sofia is an angel and we won't be gone long. Calm down okay?" Arizona nodded before leaning up to give Callie a kiss. "Thank you for being here for me, Calliope. I don't know if I can do this without you."

"I'll always be here for you, Arizona. We're in this together, and I'll always protect you and love you and keep you safe." Callie wiped a couple of tears that escaped her wife's eyes just as the elevator opened. Both surgeons stepped out and headed straight for the ER entrance, where everyone in the Boise medical team would be assembling.

When they got there, everyone was already present and wearing their thick SGMW outdoor jacket over their scrubs. Derek and Meredith were talking with Bailey, Webber, and Lexie, so the two made a beeline for them. "Hey, Mer. Umm… so there's been a last-minute change, and we were wondering if Derek's sister wouldn't mind babysitting Sofia as well?" Callie quickly cut to the chase as she stopped in front of the couple. Arizona was a little ways behind her, getting herself and Callie jackets for themselves and their medical bags.

Meredith frowned. "Is Arizona on-call tonight? I'm sorry, Callie but Amelia already left with Zola…"

"No uh… Karev did something stupid and Arizona kicked him off the Boise team, and she's replacing him. Crap…" Callie's mind was just about to go through a list of other possibilities when Bailey spoke up. "I'll take her, Torres. I don't know what idiot thing Karev did, but I can't blame Robbins if she got mad. I always thought that wife of yours is too soft, I didn't think she had it in her."

Callie smiled at Bailey, grateful, and relieved to have solved the babysitting issue. "Thank you, Bailey! And if you ever need help with Tuck, I'll be happy to return the favor." The ortho surgeon leaned down and engulfed the smaller general surgeon in a brief hug before quickly pulling away, afraid of what Bailey might do. The smaller surgeon frowned at the show of affection but didn't speak.

Just then, the shuttle arrived for the surgeons, and everyone piled in, giving final instructions and waving goodbye to everyone, the seven surgeons were on their way to do what they do best: save lives. The atmosphere in the shuttle up to the jet was full of excitement. Everyone was pumped up for the rare procedure that they were about to do, all except for Arizona, who was still subdued after the event in the hospital. 

Meredith and Cristina were excitedly discussing the cool surgery they were both going to be part of. This conjoined twin surgery would be another one for the medical journals, and the twisted sisters were excited for the prospect of being part of the surgical team that was basically making history in the medical field for this incredibly difficult and rare surgery.

Lexie was also excited, and she was discussing the case with Mark and Derek, absorbing as much information as she could from the neuro and plastics side of the surgery. Derek and Mark, for their part, were patiently explaining their roles in the surgery and maybe also bragging to the wide-eyed junior resident.

Callie smiled with her colleagues but kept herself glued to her wife's side, holding Arizona's hand all the way to the plane. The two of them didn’t need to exchange words, they conveyed all they needed to say to each other with their looks and their touch. The Latina also remembered that her wife hated flying, so she sat next to Arizona and let her wife squeeze her hand hard on take off. Once they were in the air, Callie wrapped her arm around Arizona's shoulders, pulling the blonde closer to her in a silent act of comfort and protection.

They were half an hour into the flight when Callie felt the plane jerk. She had been listening to music while absentmindedly running her fingers through her wife’s hair, soothing the half-asleep peds surgeon. The orthopedic surgeon sat up, looking out the window before turning to her wife, who was wide awake now. Another jerk of the plane had Arizona grabbing her hand in a death grip, “what was that?” the blonde asked.

“I don’t know, but put your seatbelt on. That didn’t feel like turbulence.” the Latina was just helping Arizona with her seatbelt when a boom was suddenly heard from one of the wings, the wing nearest to Callie’s side. The orthopedic surgeon’s eyes widened when she heard it, and she only had time to spare her wife and other colleagues a glance before the plane started to dive and an earsplitting noise of tearing metal met her ears before she was suddenly thrown out of the plane.

Callie felt her back collide with something solid as she was sucked out of the plane before she knew no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! This is the next chapter to Lost and Found. It's pretty short and pretty much a filler to setup the whole trip. Thanks for the kudos and the comments!
> 
> Until next chapter!
> 
> Please tell me what you think down in the comments! I read all of them!


	3. The one where seven surgeons, a pilot, and a plane fell out of the sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callie opens her eyes to a forest canopy, a piece of plane wreckage, and the world on white noise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love love loved all the positive feedback and decided to post this early. The more you all give me reviews, the more I'm motivated to update this story.
> 
> Thank you and here's the longest chapter yet! 
> 
> Please let me know what you think! I read all your reviews!

Chapter 3: The one where seven surgeons, a pilot, and a plane fell out of the sky

Day 1

The first thing Callie noticed when she opened her eyes is that she was staring up at trees and the sky, the other thing is that the high pitched ringing in her ears was preventing her from hearing any other sound, meaning she was experiencing tinnitus and when she lifted one arm to check her ears, she found blood on her left ear. Now she knew she ruptured an eardrum, which would be very inconvenient if she was alone right now because the tinnitus can last up to a few hours and she wouldn’t be able to hear anyone calling out or looking for her if they were. 

Sighing, Callie closed her eyes and did a mental check of herself. Her right shoulder, arm, and hand were fine judging from not experiencing pain when she used it to check her ears. Unfortunately, she couldn’t move her left arm without experiencing intense pain in her shoulder. It was either dislocated or broken. Her left side was also throbbing painfully, though both her legs were functional albeit sore, most likely from her fall. Callie had already figured that since she was lying down on some dirt in a wooded area that their plane had crashed somewhere, and she did vaguely remember getting sucked out of the plane. She had been sitting near the window and when the plane started ripping apart, her side of the plane ripped open and sucked her right out. Callie was sure that someone else was sucked out with her, so she opened her eyes and slowly looked from left to right, becoming aware of a dull throbbing at the back of her head as she did so.

She was lying down next to a section of the plane’s broken wing, and upon closer inspection, a pair of legs were sticking out partially under the wreck. Callie sat up carefully, supporting her weight with her only good arm. It was an unconscious Derek Shepherd with his hand stuck in a hole in the wing. Whatever she could see of his hand was a bloody and mangled mess already, there would surely be nerve damage if they can get it out. Now the orthopedic surgeon realized that it was just her and Derek here, and with the loud ringing still present in her ears, she couldn’t really hear anything in their background. She needed to wake Derek up.

Once again going slow, Callie stood up, letting out groans of pain that she really could barely hear but was probably louder to others. Walking slowly, Callie used her good hand to shake the doctor’s shoulders. “Derek, wake up. Derek!” not sure of the volume of her own voice, the orthopedic surgeon kept at it until the neurosurgeon in front of her woke up. He frowned up at her, opening his mouth and saying something. Unfortunately, the loud ringing in her ears kept her from hearing whatever Derek was saying. “I can’t hear you! My left eardrum is ruptured and I’m experiencing high pitched tinnitus!” From the flinch, Callie knew she was probably shouting.

Derek nodded to show he understood and then pointed to his trapped hand, mouthing help. Nodding, Callie walked closer to the hole where Derek’s hand was trapped, inspecting the damage closer. It appeared that his hand had gone through and the skin up to the muscle was sliced, while his wrist was snagged by the edge of the metal, and if she could safely pry them apart, there wouldn’t be too much damage. The other alternative was to break his hand by taking a rock and smashing it on the hand to free it. Callie resolved to try prying the twisted metal embedded in Derek’s hand loose first. 

Stepping up to the wing as close as she could without putting weight on it, Callie figured that with the damage on the wing, she could probably pull it apart and widen the hole enough for Derek to slip his hand out. Bracing herself, Callie got her good hand to grip the edge of the broken metal, and with all the strength she could muster, she pulled as hard as she could with one hand. Thanks to being an orthopedic surgeon, the Latina had a lot of strength. Slowly, the damaged metal gave way but not without slicing into Callie’s hand painfully. When Derek finally pulled his hand out, Callie let go with a hiss of pain. She now had a new injury in the form of a long and deep gash on her palm that was steadily oozing blood.

Turning back to her friend, Callie spoke again, this time trying to soften her voice. “Can you hear anything? Anyone calling out?” she asked. Derek stood up, shaking his head as he looked around. There were a few scattered pieces of luggage next to them, but none of them were their medical bags. Thankfully, the clothes would do as makeshift bandages. Callie watched Derek pick up two almost clean shirts, and he wrapped his wrist and hand before helping the Latina with her hand. With both of their bleeding hands wrapped as best as it could with their injuries, Derek examined Callie’s left shoulder. The Latina hadn’t dared look at the damage, knowing that once her eyes had seen it, her brain would catch up with the injury, sending pain signals that would probably be crippling. “Later,” he had mouthed to her. Callie nodded. It meant that the damage needed some more hands than they had right now, especially since both of them can only use one hand at the moment.

Suddenly, Derek looked up. Was someone calling for them? Derek stood up again and shouted. This time, Callie could faintly hear a sound, even with the tinnitus still present but she couldn’t make out what he said. She stood up next to him, following the man as he led them up the embankment they were in. Just before they reached the top, Meredith greeted them. She almost wanted to cry in relief, except there were still other people missing. Callie and Derek walked as fast as they could to meet their colleague, Derek and Meredith sharing an embrace while Callie looked on. The scene itself reminded her of her wife, and cold fear hit her then. Arizona was on the plane with them, and she hasn’t seen her yet. Callie tapped Meredith on the shoulder. “Arizona? Where’s Arizona?” she asked. Meredith turned her attention to the Latina, trying to speak to her. Unfortunately, the high pitched ringing in her ears was still making it hard for the orthopedic surgeon to hear anything. 

Callie pointed to her ear, gesturing wildly with her good hand that she couldn’t hear anything. Turning to Derek, the Latina waited for him to explain to his wife why she wasn’t responding to the words being said. Callie watched the conversation like a silent movie, observing how Meredith gasped silently and frowned before nodding. Derek turned his attention back to Callie, gesturing for the orthopedic surgeon to grab onto his shirt, probably so as not to lose her. If Callie got lost in the woods, she wouldn’t be able to rely on her senses to get her back to them, especially since her tinnitus would probably not go away for a few hours. It made sense that Callie needed guidance, even if she could see perfectly well. So the orthopedic surgeon grabbed onto the sleeve of Derek’s scrub top and followed them as they started to walk back.

They made a turn towards another piece of wreckage, where Callie could see Mark lying on his stomach and Cristina kneeled in front of the broken off rear section of the plane. The Latina looked towards Derek for an answer as Meredith ran towards the duo, tugging on the man’s sleeve to get his attention. Derek turned his head towards Callie, a sad look on his face, and he mouthed “Lexie.” The two of them picked up their pace as Mark stood up, trying and failing to lift a section of the plane.

Callie picked up her pace, overtaking Derek as she reached Cristina's side to assess the situation. From the angle that they were on, it looked like half of Lexie's body was under the plane. The ortho surgeon frowned and got down on her stomach as well, smiling at the wide-eyed junior resident who was trying to say something. Unfortunately, the high pitched ringing in the Latina's ears has yet to let her hear anything. "I can't hear you, Lexie, but I need to ask you some questions. Nod or shake your head, okay?" 

Little Grey nodded before her body shook with what looked like wheezing coughs and she even spat out some blood. This meant Lexie was suffering from internal bleeding and a crush injury of some sort. Well… you would assume it was a crush injury seeing as half of her body wasn't visible. Everyone was fixated on this side of the wreck, and since she still couldn't see anything on this side, Callie decided to circle around. Maybe there was something they could do, something to help their friend out.

Above her, Mark was still trying to lift the damn tail section of the plane by himself while Cristina, Meredith, and Derek just looked on. The Latina huffed silently at them. They were all in shock, and so was she, but Callie was also more stubborn and the more she felt backed into a corner, the more she tried to defy the odds that were against her.

Grunting with frustration, the orthopedic surgeon tuned out her own pains and aches and her own trauma to fully assess the situation. "Can you feel anything below your waist, Lexie?" She asked or probably half-shouted. The Latina didn't really care anymore. She was temporarily deaf, her colleagues and Mark can suck it up.

Lexie shook her head, tears now pooling in her eyes. Doe-like eyes that showed nothing but fear. Callie nodded in understanding. "What about your other arm? Can you feel it?" A nod. "Can you move it?" Another nod. Okay, so from this angle, it looked like Lexie was pinned from the waist down and her other arm looked like it was too, but if little Grey can move and feel her arm, then the terrain must be dipped or uneven in a certain place under the wreck.

"I will be right back. Mark! Come with me. Grey! Keep your sister talking!" It was weird that right now a practically deaf Callie Torres was taking charge, especially since she didn't have the best track record in positions of power but the sheer stubbornness and determination born from her Latina roots and her recently acquired mama bear tendencies seemed to do the trick of snapping her colleagues into action.

Callie led Mark around the plane, the orthopedic surgeon surveying the wreck some while also trying to feel around their terrain, as much as her shoe clad feet would let her. As soon as they reached the other side of the wreck, the Latina almost cheered. It wasn't visible from the other side but the plane wreckage wasn't lying on even ground, part of it wasn't even lying on the ground at all. There was a sizeable dip in the ground from this side of the plane, approximately where Lexie should have been pinned, and the bulky side of the plane was propped up on top of a half-buried boulder. It looked promising, especially since it might just be enough space that they could get Lexie out from this side but they would need something to lift up the lighter side of the wreck before they could try to extract Lexie.

Without saying another word, Callie got down on her stomach again and tried to gauge if she or one of the smaller women could fit under there. As she looked into the dip, the orthopedic surgeon could actually see Lexie's lower half and her other arm. The junior resident's arm wasn't that far inside the hole, and she could see it moving. Crawling on her belly, Callie was able to fit half her body into the dip next to Lexie and she grabbed the other woman's hand, squeezing it before letting go and crawling back out.

Running back to the other side of the wreck, Callie and Mark found Meredith excitedly talking to Lexie. Maybe the resident was telling Mer about how Callie had been able to grab her hand and squeeze it. "We can get Lexie out. This wreck is on uneven ground, her pelvis might be crushed which is why she can't feel anything below the waist but her hand was moving and I was able to crawl under there and grab her hand. Yes, Lexie, that was me." The Latina explained, smiling widely as she received a crushing hug from Meredith at her news.

Derek, Mark, Meredith, and Cristina all turned their attention to Callie, silently asking her what they need to do. The orthopedic surgeon ran her hand over her hair, biting her lip and moving her head from side to side. These were the same mannerisms and posture the woman adapted when she was trying to solve a tricky Sudoku puzzle or when she was trying to find a solution for a very tricky surgery. Looking around, there were rocks, plane debris, and trees everywhere. The problem was, they needed some sort of lift or create space so that Lexie's body could be pulled out from the other side. "We need to lift this tail wing section just enough for someone small to crawl on the other side and pull Lexis out. We need… leverage to lift this." The Latina walked over to a small boulder, maybe the side of a big dog, and then her eyes found a fallen sapling, not big enough to be called a tree but thick and long enough for her plan.

"Derek! Mark! Can you move this in front of the wreck? Right over where Cristina is standing. Mer! Help me lift this small tree or thick branch or whatever." The Latina ordered the others as she walked over to the small fallen tree. With Meredith's help, they positioned the trunk over the boulder, right against where they wanted to lift the wreck. Callie then ordered Meredith to go to the other side with Cristina and wait for their cue to pull Lexie out. It was agreed that Meredith would crawl in as she had the least injuries among them. 

Callie, Mark, and Derek positioned themselves along the elevated trunk to pull it down and hopefully be able to lift the wreck until the other two could pull Lexie out safely. "Okay. On three… one, two, three. PULL!" All three surgeons pulled with all their might as the plane wreck slowly moved with their combined strength. With the help of the boulder and branch acting as leverage, the plane slowly started to lift. Once the three were able to lift it up a few feet, Callie shouted "PULL HER OUT NOW MER! HURRY!" 

The three attending surgeons ignored their pain and kept the branch steady, lifting the wreck for Meredith and Cristina to safely pull Lexie out. Callie looked on at Derek and Mark for cues because she really can't hear anything. After a few more minutes of strained pulling, Callie watched Derek and Mark look up towards the other side of the plane before Derek turned to Callie and mouthed "she's out." With a groan she couldn't hear, Callie and the other two men let go of the branch and let it snap up as the weight of the fell on top of it again. With a sigh of relief, Callie practically collapsed from the exertion. Derek caught her though and guided her to a nearby fallen tree so they could both sit down and catch their breaths.

Callie’s tinnitus was still bad but the ortho surgeon could swear that the noise was starting to lower in volume, though it was still almost impossible for her to hear normal sound levels. She and Derek were sitting against a fallen tree trunk, while Mark and Meredith were fussing over a newly freed Lexie. Callie knew she would have to do a thorough assessment of Lexie's crush injury, but for now, she'd let Meredith and Mark fuss over little Grey.

Cristina had gone somewhere, probably where the rest of the plane was to get supplies and help clean out Derek’s hand as well as her hand and shoulder. After a few minutes, Meredith left Mark alone with Lexie to take a look at Callie and Derek. When Cristina came back, the resident was dragging a suitcase with her, probably filled with whatever she could scavenge to help them.

Meredith was now crouched in front of them, cleaning out Derek’s arm and the massive gash in it from it going through metal. The resident had also cleaned out Callie’s right hand using a bottle of water and some alcohol that Cristina was able to find, and the Latina was keeping it elevated to stem the bleeding while waiting for whatever Cristina was able to scavenge from their personal luggage to use as bandages or sutures for their skin. Callie and Derek both needed stitches, and after Cristina had done a quick check of her shoulder, ripping part of Callie’s scrub top to check on the injury, it was confirmed that something on the ortho surgeon’s shoulder was broken. From the looks of it, Callie would venture to guess that it was a proximal humerus fracture, which would explain why she was experiencing intense pain when moving her arm or shoulder. The tinnitus was also starting to aggravate Callie’s headache, and it was not helping her concentration at all. 

The two mostly uninjured residents worked silently and used safety pins to sew Derek’s arm close, and glue and tape to close Callie’s sliced palm before wrapping both in destroyed shirts and more tape. Cristina also used a scarf to create a makeshift sling to help immobilize Callie's injured left shoulder, making it tight enough so that the injury won't be aggravated by movement. Once everything was secured, Callie watched Cristina shouting towards Mark, who hadn’t moved from his position next to Lexie's prone form. The man was just sitting there, his body probably feeling the effects of exhaustion as he held Lexie's hand. The orthopedic surgeon could hear faint noise now from Cristina screaming as she walked towards Mark. Callie could only guess that the Korean resident was probably scolding Mark for not helping and telling him something to the effect of Lexie not going anywhere.

Callie didn't interfere. She could understand why Mark was like this. If it had been Arizona, the Latina wouldn't want to leave her side either, and she vowed to herself to never let Arizona go if they all got out of this alive. The orthopedic surgeon just watched silently along with Derek and Meredith as Cristina continued to rant and rave as she kneeled down in front of Mark, that was until Cristina started screaming again and looking back at them as Mark collapsed on the forest floor. Callie looked towards her companions for cues, and she stood up with them when they did and ran towards Mark.

It turned out that Mark had a massive hemothorax. Callie helped stabilize and pin him down while Meredith inserted an improvised chest tube to drain the blood. All the while, Lexie looked on in horror beside them. The Plastic surgeon passed out soon after that, and with the light slowly fading, the four surgeons scavenged what they might need and secured Mark and Lexie inside thick sheets before dragging the two of them back to the main part of the plane. Back to Arizona and the pilot.

As soon as they got back, the orthopedic surgeon made a beeline for her wife, who was propped up against plane debris. Callie crouched down in front of Arizona, her good hand wandering over her wife’s body as they both cried in relief at seeing each other alive. Arizona was trying to speak to Callie, but the Latina still could barely hear her wife. “I can’t hear you, honey. I still have tinnitus from a ruptured eardrum but it should be gone in a few hours. I love you, Arizona. Where are you hurt?” Callie tried to keep her volume low but she knew that she probably was speaking at a higher volume than normal still when she saw her wife wince.

Arizona nodded in understanding and started pointing at her left leg. There were superficial scratches on Arizona’s face but nothing that needed more than cleaning, so Callie turned her attention to where her wife was pointing at. The blonde had used a pole, some scarves, and a belt to splint her leg, and from what Callie could see, it was an open femur fracture but the splinting wasn’t correct.

Grimacing, Callie called out for Cristina, who was with her in a flash. “I need to… I need to realign the bone and we need something to clean and disinfect the wound before we resplint it. Can you and Meredith help me?” Callie asked, turning her attention to Cristina to see her response. The resident nodded before walking off to get disinfectant and something to clean Arizona’s wound with. Tapping on her arm directed Callie’s attention back to her wife, who was holding back tears as she mouthed ‘I love you’ over and over. The orthopedic resident smiled and leaned in to press a chaste kiss to her wife’s lips, wordlessly assuring her.

When Cristina and Meredith came back with some clean clothes and one of the medical bags, Callie had already undone the rough splint. Luckily for them, some of the medical bags were scattered around them and intact, three of the seven bags were here but the other four and the plane’s first aid kit was probably scattered somewhere around the area between where she and Derek were and where they found Lexie. They, the ones who could still walk, would look for it later. For now, Callie concentrated on fixing her wife’s leg as much as she could with the help of Cristina while Meredith held Arizona still. 

Callie and Cristina sanitized their hands as much as possible before the two combined their efforts to painfully straighten out Arizona’s leg and push the bone back in the right place. All the while, Arizona screamed and cried against Meredith’s arms. Callie’s tinnitus had now turned into an almost low hum, so she could hear her wife’s gut-wrenching cries with her good ear. “I’m so sorry, Arizona. We’re almost done,” the ortho surgeon kept talking to her wife as she and Cristina used thick wads of clean gauze to pack the wound and secured the plastic wrappings of the gauze over the wound with tape to prevent anything on the forest floor from entering and hopefully staving off infection until their rescue.

Once they finished properly splinting Arizona’s leg, Cristina and Meredith transferred Arizona onto a blanket and dragged her slowly towards the inside of the plane, resting her against one of the displaced plane seats. Callie, with Derek’s help, dragged Mark inside as well, resting him right next to Arizona, away from the forest floor because of his open chest tube. They also dragged Lexie inside the plane wreck, away from the forest floor, and once there, Callie and Derek used several scarves to wrap around Lexie's pelvis and stabilize it, tying the cloths tight to make sure that Lexie's injuries wouldn't be aggravated by movement. Task finished, Callie sat down next to her wife. “We’re going to get through this, someone has to find us.” The ortho surgeon didn’t know who she was really reassuring, them or her, but they all needed each other now.

Arizona rested her head against Callie’s good shoulder. “I don’t know if you can hear me now and I know this sounds bad, but I’m glad you’re here. I’m sad that Sofia is alone and will probably miss her mommies and her daddy but I’m really glad that you’re here because you make me feel safe. You made me feel so safe and protected when you confronted that shooter, and now… now you’re here with me, and Mark’s here and I feel safe and protected again because you’re by my side, Calliope. I love you, I know I've said this before but I really don’t know what I would do without you.”

Callie turned and kissed the side of Arizona’s head. “I will always protect you, mi amor. We will get through this, however many days it may take, and we will come home to our baby girl.” The Latina turned to her barely conscious best friend, “you too, Mark. You can’t die yet. Sofia is waiting for you, she’s waiting for all of us and she needs us. We need you too, Mark. So don’t you dare die.” Callie turned her attention to the youngest member of their group, Lexie, who was still awake and watching Mark. "You two better end up together after all this shit because I swear you are both idiots trying to fool yourselves that you don't love each other." Lexie let out a strained laugh at that, nodding at the Latina.

The seven surviving surgeons and the paralyzed pilot still in his seat settled in for a sleepless night. Cristina would shout at them all to keep awake so as to prevent them all from succumbing to any internal or head injuries, she had especially emphasized this for Callie and Mark, making sure to walk around and wake the two surgeons up if they even looked like they would drift off. Callie was thankful for that because she knew she probably had a really bad concussion, thanks to Derek examining her head and finding a massive lump on the back of her head, and the steady throbbing Callie felt that had now traveled through her whole head. It would probably result in light sensitivity later when the sun comes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know about you but I had a hard time writing this initially. I wanted to do something to reflect their states of mind and adrenaline/trauma fuelled first day.
> 
> This was long but it didn't feel right to separate it into multiple parts. 
> 
> I'm doing regular updates now, and I hope I can keep the momentum going. Thanks for all the love, you guys!


	4. Chapter 4: The one where the peds surgeon and the plastic surgeon cry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a rough first day and night, the surviving surgeons find themselves trying to keep their hope alive.

Chapter 4: The one where the peds surgeon and the plastic surgeon cry

_**Day 2** _

Callie was right about experiencing light sensitivity the next morning. The dull throbbing had turned into a full-blown headache, so much so that Callie squinted as she walked out of the plane wreck, careful not to wake up her slumbering wife. Arizona needed all the rest she could get, and she was the one of the two, the other being Lexie, who didn't have any head injuries so Callie thought it best to let her wife sleep for a few hours. Wandering over to the pile of broken luggage, the surgeon tried to find anything to shield her eyes with, coming up empty. She did find a small bottle of vertigo medication and anti-nausea. Swallowing two of the vertigo pills down dry, Callie slowly walked over to the others, resolving to power through the pain so she could help the others. The medication will kick in soon, she hoped.

Meredith, Derek, and Cristina were huddled up near the remains of their small flame from last night. Callie walked over to them. As the four of them were the only ones still able to walk around and had use of at least one hand, they needed to work together to gather up whatever supplies they could scavenge around them to survive. “We need to find the other medical bags and scavenge whatever might be edible around us. We also need sticks and dry leaves to make a fire and maybe a smoke signal, so we’ll split up. Someone needs to stay here to monitor Mark and Lexie's condition in case they need help because Arizona can’t move. Cristina, why don’t you monitor them? I can walk around and gather sticks and any edibles from the forest. Meredith and Callie, you two should try and find our medical bags and the first aid kit if you could but don’t go beyond the stream and the tail.” Derek took charge of the situation, while the other three just nodded. It was a good plan.

With that, the four surgeons separated. Callie and Meredith headed back to where they found Lexie and where she and Derek landed, hoping to find the rest of their medical bags and the plane's first aid kit if it was still intact. The two surgeons circled around where they found Lexie first, looking for the big red medical bags they had all packed. Callie's medical bag was one of the missing bags, and there were a lot of useful tools in her bag. The two surgeons separated briefly, going in a wide circle around the wreck. Callie was starting to slow down, the vertigo pills didn't help at all and she could feel her headache intensifying by the second.

"Found one!" Meredith's shout distracted Callie briefly from her pain, and the surgeon ran back towards the resident. She found Meredith stood on the edge of a steep embankment, holding one of the red medical bags while looking down. "I think I also found the other bags, but they're down there by a small stream." The resident said when she realized that Callie was now standing beside her.

Callie studied the terrain. It wasn't too steep, but it would take some effort to climb down and get back up with three bags strapped to your body. She could probably do it in two trips or less if one of the bags down there doesn't include hers. Turning back to the resident next to her, Callie asked, "whose medical bag is that? Is it the heavy one?" If it was, then that would mean it was Callie's bag. Only the orthopedic surgeon's bag carried any tools, which made it heavier.

Meredith turned her attention to Callie before putting the bag down on the ground and opening it. "It's my bag. Good. That means the three bags down there are fairly light compared to this. You stay here and wait for me, Mer. I'll go down there and get them, we need all the supplies we can get. We don't know how long we'll be here." With that, Callie started her trek down, carefully moving through the dry and uneven ground. Taking a fall right now would be dangerous, especially with her current condition. It was also a great struggle for Callie as her headache kept intensifying by the minute, making the ortho surgeon pause every few seconds due to the pain and the light sensitivity.

Finally, Callie reached the bottom of the embankment. She paused to rub her temple and take a breather. The headache she was experiencing was now almost blinding, and there was now also sharp pain going through her back, she just wanted to lie down and rest for a bit. But no, the image of her injured and scared wife kept Callie going. She needed to do this, and she needed to get back there with these supplies so they could survive however many days they needed to wait for rescue. There was also the beautiful baby girl waiting for them back home, and Callie vowed to herself that Sofia wasn't going to lose a parent if she could help it.

With a renewed sense of purpose, Callie pushed through her pain and collected all three bags, securing them against her body. She made a quick sweep of the surroundings, checking to see if she missed anything. Finding nothing else of value, Callie looked up at where Meredith was waiting for her and started her climb. The climb was harder than her descent because of the added weight and the fact that because she was looking up, the bright sun penetrating through the trees was occasionally hitting her eyes, making the headache all the more painful with every step. 

"Sofia is waiting for you. Your wife needs you. Your friends need you. Mark needs you." Callie uttered these words under her breath as she continued to climb. Halfway up, the ortho surgeon almost slipped and fell when a particularly bright ray of sun met her eyes and made her flinch. She heard the gasp from Meredith as she slid a good two feet down, but luckily, her good hand found purchase in a protruding boulder. Callie used it to haul herself back up, her eyesight now a little compromised as dark spots appeared in her vision. She knew she needed to move faster, the spots and her vision itself was starting to swim, a sure indication that she was about to pass out. Summoning the last of her strength, Callie ran up the rest of the way and got half her body up next to Meredith before she collapsed. The ortho surgeon heard faint calls of her name before the darkness took over and she knew no more.

\----------Lost&Found----------

Arizona POV

Arizona opened her bleary eyes after what seemed like a short nap. She wondered what woke her up as she tried to reach out beside her to check on Callie, her hand finding empty space next to where her wife should have been. The peds surgeon fully woke up at that, turning her head every which way, hoping to catch a glimpse of the orthopedic surgeon. Unfortunately, she only found Cristina and Mark next to her. The resident was checking Mark's vitals.

"Cristina. Where's Callie?" She asked, catching the resident's attention. Next to Mark, a slumbering Lexie woke up with a start.

"What's going on?" Lexie questioned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The younger surgeon tried to sit up but a firm hand on her shoulder from Cristina stopped her. The cardio resident turned her attention to Arizona once she was sure that Lexie wasn’t going to try to get up again.

"Chill out, roller girl. Your wife, Mer, and Derek went out to gather some supplies and find the missing medical bags. They'll be back soon." The Korean resident went to check on Mark, who seemed a lot more alert now before she moved on to Lexie again, who she gave the evil eye to when the young woman tried once again to move.

"Stop fidgeting, Lexie. You have a broken pelvis and who knows what else. I'm not the ortho surgeon here, and Callie isn't here to assess you, so lie down there and stop moving!" Cristina snapped. Lexie sighed but did as she was told.

“Sorry, dr. Yang. I’m just getting restless, I think all of us who can’t walk are,” Lexie answered.

Cristina shook her head, patting the younger woman’s shoulder. “You can call me Cristina. We’re not in the hospital. Hell, when we get out of here, you don’t even have to call me doctor Yang within the hospital. Sharing a trauma like this sounds like a good enough reason to use first names, doesn’t it?” This caused the other three to smile.

“Cristina’s right, Lexie. We’re all bonded by this… shitty situation we found ourselves in. Just don’t shorten my name, okay?” Arizona added, much to everyone’s amusement. The blonde surgeon’s try for humor was met with laughter.

Mark’s deep laughter was loudest among them. “I didn’t know you did humor, Arizona. Guess I can’t call you blondie anymore.”

“I would hit you if you weren’t already injured, Marcus.” Arizona retorted, giving her colleague… friend? Baby daddy? A half-hearted glare. There really wasn’t any animosity between them anymore, they’ve become somewhat friends after the other trauma they had both shared. Almost losing the most important people in your lives gave them an unspoken understanding with each other, which had led to a somewhat closer bond while co-parenting Sofia.

Cristina smirked at the two. “Break it up, children. I’m not experienced in treating tiny humans, so if you keep acting like children, I might refuse treatment.” This got another round of laughter from the group before they all went silent and lost themselves in their own thoughts once again.

Arizona rested her head back, trying to ignore the anxiety she felt at not seeing her wife. Callie had a bad concussion and a broken shoulder with a sliced hand and probably some other small cuts and scrapes all over her body. There wasn't time for them to fully examine each other yesterday as they needed to focus on the most injured members of their group, mainly Arizona and Mark. Something about Callie worried the blonde, though. Her wife was not known for being forthcoming of her injuries, and her stubborn nature made Callie ignore her own pain in favor of prioritizing others. In this case, she would have probably ignored whatever symptoms she was experiencing to focus on helping the group, especially with Arizona, Lexie, and Mark being as badly injured as they were.

Sighing, the peds surgeon closed her eyes. Arizona was never a woman of faith. She was a woman of science, and there had only been one instance where she ever prayed. It was during her wife and infant daughter's surgery after the car crash. The blonde surgeon never believed in a higher power, but her wife did. Callie was a catholic, born and raised, and the blonde would often see her wife in the hospital chapel before a tricky operation or whenever something big had happened. Her wife believed in God, and Arizona hoped that her wife's God wouldn't let anything happen to her now.

As if reading her mind, Lexie spoke up from Mark's other side. "Callie will be fine. We will all be fine. We all fell out of the sky and are still alive, and that's already a miracle itself. We all just need to keep our faith in each other. You'll see, Arizona. We'll all get through this."

Arizona cocked her head to the side, studying the younger Grey sister. Lexie was pretty much paralyzed from the waist down, and her pelvis was being held together by tightly bound scarves. There were also scarves and makeshift bandages covering one of her legs. "You and I both know you have a strong probability of being a paraplegic after this. How are you still so optimistic?" The blonde questioned.

Lexie laughed. "I will take being alive and not being able to walk to being dead. I was absolutely sure that I was dying when the others found me, and then Callie found a way to get me out from under that wreck, and here we are." The junior resident gestured to her unmoving legs, "I'm a person who likes to see the positive in bad situations. I'm alive, aren't I? That's something I'm thankful for, and I'd rather be paralyzed than slowly dying under a plane."

Arizona grew silent as she listened to Lexie. The young woman was right. They were all alive, hurt but alive, and they were all together. That was a small bit of positive from the absolute shit luck they've had so far. "You're right, Lexie. At least we're alive." The blonde gave Lexie a dimpled smile in thanks for giving them all some sliver of hope in their bad situation.

After checking her out as well and making sure that the coverings on her leg still helped to stave off any infection, Cristina left the three injured surgeons alone while the Korean woman took a walk outside. Arizona turned to Mark, who was now conscious and also looking at her. "You're lucky, Robbins. You and Callie. I want what you have." Mark sighed at his confession.

Arizona smiled softly at Mark, grasping his hand in hers. "You can have what we have, Mark. She's right there beside you."

Mark chuckled. "You're right." He answered before turning his attention to the brunette beside him.

The blonde smiled and turned away to give the two some privacy as they whispered amongst themselves. Mark and Lexie always had a complicated relationship, but Arizona always thought the two of them would be perfect together. The peds surgeons sat quietly, looking out at the vast forest around them while lost in thought as she waited for her colleagues and Callie to come back.

The more she waited for Callie to come back, the more her gut told her that something was wrong. Derek had already come back a while ago, and she could see him and Cristina talking in hushed tones and glancing around nervously. Something was definitely wrong.

"Where are they? They should be back by now, right? Derek! Cristina!" The panic was evident in Arizona's voice as she called out to her colleagues. Beside her, Mark also sat up, groaning in pain as he did so. Lexie, on the other hand, just looked on.

Derek and Cristina turned their attention to the two injured surgeons, both walking over to help Mark lie back down. "Calm down, you two. I'm going to go look for them, but I'm sure they're probably just still looking for supplies. Don't move or you'll injure yourselves even more." Derek stood up again while Cristina hovered over Mark, checking him over and making sure that the tube draining fluid and blood from his pleural space was still intact.

As soon as Derek started walking away, a frantic Meredith ran through the trees, carrying one of the medical bags with her. "Help! Help! Derek! Callie collapsed!"

At the frantic brunette's words, Arizona felt her blood run cold. Flashes of Callie's face and her smile kept playing in Arizona's head while Meredith's words echoed as well. The peds surgeon let out a strangled sob as she thought of her wife, her rock, her soulmate, hurt, and possibly in need of immediate medical help. The help they might not be able to give in their current location. For the second time in her life, Arizona prayed. She prayed as her friends ran off after Meredith, she prayed as Mark took her hand in his and tried to reassure her that Callie was okay, even with his own voice breaking and tears fell down both their cheeks. Arizona prayed that their friends would be able to save her wife.

On Mark’s other side, Lexie spoke up. “Callie will be fine, Arizona. Everyone in this damn wreck will do everything to keep her alive because we’re all in this together and we’re all getting out of this alive, and we have to hold on to that.” Arizona opened her eyes and saw Lexie’s soft smile while her hand was extended over Mark’s stomach. The blonde nodded and took hold of Lexie’s hand as well, squeezing the younger woman’s hand the way she did with Mark’s. 

Arizona and Mark were both already mid breakdown, both having flashes of the time that Callie was also in danger, a time that had only been a year ago. The worst days of both their lives as Mark’s best friend and the love of Arizona’s life fought to live as a result of a horrible car crash, an accident that also almost took their beautiful daughter’s life. The blonde had never spoken about it after, but she still blamed herself for that crash. If she hadn’t taken her eyes off the road to do a hasty, jealousy fueled proposal, that accident could have been prevented.

As if sensing where her mind was wandering, Lexie squeezed Arizona’s hand. “Don’t go there, Arizona. This is different, and we all know Callie is strong. She would never leave you or Sofia alone. Callie’s one of the strongest people I know, and most of them are with us in this situation so I know, I know everything will be okay.” The blonde peds surgeon let out a few sobs before nodding in agreement. Yes, she had to believe that they were going to be okay. Arizona had to live up to how her father raised her, she had to be a good man in a storm, even if this was the biggest storm she’d been in yet.

“Lexie’s right, Arizona. Callie’s strong, and she’s stubborn. We have to hold on to that,” Mark added, his voice breaking with his own tears and barely contained sobs. Arizona nodded, they needed something to hold on to. Their sanity wouldn’t survive if they couldn’t hold onto that hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So from this point on, my chapters will start increasing in the word count. Most of it is still in Callie's POV, but if you've noticed, I've also indicated POV changes here. I don't want to skip a lot of parts during their time in the forest but if Callie wasn't physically there, there would be a change in POV and maybe even a General POV from time to time.
> 
> I have been loving all these beautiful and positive feedback! Thank you so much!
> 
> Your reviews motivate my writing, and I find it easier to update and write longer chapters thanks to all your wonderful people.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Keep writing those comments and tell me what you think! Your comments give me motivation!
> 
> -Phoenixwrites


	5. The one where a surgeon drills holes in the forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The survivors fight like hell to keep their hope alive, and each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays everyone!
> 
> I had finished writing this the day before but I got so busy with Christmas around the corner, and now it's Christmas day in my side of the world and I thought I'd post this new chapter as a Christmas present!
> 
> Happy Reading and Tell me what you think about this new development!
> 
> -PhoenixWrites

General POV

A frantic group of surgeons walked hurriedly towards the main area of the plane wreckage. Two of them were dragging behind them the unconscious form of Callie Torres, while the third carried all four medical bags. The three injured surgeons who had stayed on the plane looked on in worry as their friends half carried and half dragged the unconscious figure with them.

Cristina, who had been carrying the bags, dropped them near the plane before she ran off to where their personal luggage was piled. The Korean woman wasted no time in grabbing a big flat piece of broken off plane debris, probably what was once a part of the wall, and hauled it over to the forest floor, right beside where Arizona and Mark were. She then grabbed a bottle of clean water and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Using one of the clean shirts in one of the luggage, Cristina hurriedly scrubbed the surface of the piece before laying down a few layers of clean clothes, making a makeshift bed. Once done, Derek and Meredith carefully laid down the unconscious orthopedic surgeon and started thoroughly examining their friend.

"Derek, what happened to her? Is it her concussion? Did we miss something?" Arizona's frantic voice can be heard over the rustle of activity between the three still able-bodied surgeons.

Grabbing a penlight from one of the medical bags, Derek shined it on Callie's eyes. "The concussion might have been something else, one of her pupils is blown. We need to make burr holes to relieve the pressure." The neurosurgeon's tone is grave as he declared this. They were in a very unsanitary environment, and having an open brain in such an environment carried a high risk of infection.

"No! You can't drill holes in my wife's skull!" Arizona's cry directed everyone's attention to her.

"I'm sorry, Arizona, but we need to do this or Callie dies. I'll be damned if we lose one of us here in this god damned forest, especially if we can do something about it!" The tone of Derek's voice left no room for argument as everyone let sink what he just said. No one wanted to lose even one life in this forest, not one of their own, not anyone. Even with all their injuries and the lack of proper tools, they were still doctors, they were still surgeons, and they all vowed to save lives. They all refused to let any one of them slip, and Derek’s conviction to save Callie just reinforced that for everyone.

He was right, of course. The increasing pressure in Callie's brain would cause death if they didn't relieve it fast, and there was no other way than to drill burr holes into the Latina's skull if they wanted to save her. With no one uttering any more protests, Derek instructed Cristina and Meredith to check all the medical bags for anything they could use to drill through bone.

Cristina quickly opened the heavier bag, Callie's. The bag was full of various hand tools and some battery-operated orthopedic tools. As luck would have it, there was a battery-operated drill amongst Callie's tools. The Korean resident quickly handed over the tool for Meredith to sanitize while she dug into the bag some more looking for something to shave the orthopod's hair.

"We need a shaver. Did anyone bring a shaver with them!?" Cristina asked, still digging through Callie's medical bag.

"I have a portable shaver in my luggage, Yang! That should do." Mark shouted back immediately. He couldn’t move but he wanted to be able to help at least. All three of them wanted to be useful, the three who couldn’t move wanted to contribute anything.

The resident hurried over to their personal luggage and rooted through the mess, immediately finding the said item amongst the piles of clothes and personal hygiene kits. Cristina took a mental note of the hygiene kits. They might be able to use them for later.

She hurried back to Meredith and Derek's side, where the two were prepping Callie. Derek positioned Callie's head while Meredith cleaned and sanitized the Latina's upper body with water and rubbing alcohol. With the Latina's scrub top being absolutely filthy from her collapse, the brunette resolved to cut it off of her, leaving the ortho surgeon almost naked from the waist up. Derek had averted his eyes while his wife carefully cleaned Callie's upper body. The brunette resident discovered more injuries on the ortho surgeon's body as she started cleaning. Callie's upper chest was riddled with small pieces of rocks and metal bits that had embedded themselves in the Latina's skin.

"She's got a lot of small debris embedded in her skin, Derek. We need to take these out too," Meredith reported as she carefully used a clean shirt to cover Callie's chest. 

"We'll do that later. For now, we need to relieve the pressure in her brain. Cristina's almost done shaving her hair, I need you to do the burr holes, Meredith. You're the only one who still has use of both your hands. Come here." The brunette resident sanitized her hands as she crawled over to Callie's head. Cristina and Derek decided to shave off all of the hair on Callie's head to minimize the possibility of infection even more.

Once they had cleared all of the shaved hair and changed the clothes draped under Callie's head, they sanitized and cleaned the area of her head before Cristina poured a good amount of betadine over the area where Meredith would be drilling the burr hole.

"Now, you've done this before. You can do this, Meredith." Derek encouraged her as he watched his wife steady her hands as she made an incision on Callie's scalp. Cristina assisted as she carefully dabbed at the blood with clean gauze. Once everything was in place, Meredith carefully put the small battery-operated hand drill against the Latina's skull. The noise of the drill made everyone cringe as it drilled through one of their colleague's skulls. They were all used to the sound of drills and saws going through bone, but the thought of it being put against one of their own still elicited a shudder among everyone. Only Meredith stayed steady as she carefully drilled through, only stopping once she fully breached the skull.

When the resident pulled away the drill, a burst of blood sprang from the hole, coating the brunette resident's face and torso with Callie's blood. Cristina and Derek packed gauze around the hole to catch as much of the blood as they could while Meredith wiped away at the blood of her friend from her face, her resolve finally crumbling as she dropped the drill. With shaking limbs, Meredith grabbed the bottle of water and a clean cloth and walked away from everyone, frantically cleaning her hands and face of the blood with water and the cloth.

Back beside the prone figure of Callie, Derek and Cristina carefully covered the hole in the Latina's head with clean gauze and secured it. They would need to check the hole and clean it every few hours to prevent infection. It was merely a waiting game now if Callie would wake up at all. The three surgeons worked out a rotation between them on who would monitor the unconscious woman. Apart from Arizona, Lexie, and Mark, Callie was now just as critically injured with an open hole in her head. Cristina, being the most alert among them, volunteered for the first watch.

Inside the still-intact part of the plane, Arizona and Mark watched on, tears streaming from their faces, both feeling useless as they watched their friends save Callie's life. It was an incredibly painful experience for the two surgeons that they couldn’t even do anything to help, or even be beside the Latina. Beside Mark, Lexie could do nothing but hold his other hand and offer words of comfort that fell into deaf ears.

Arizona refused to believe that this was how they would die. She believed that her wife was a fighter, and she refused to entertain the thought of living in a world where the only place that Callie would live would be in her memories. They had a daughter together, and they only just got married. Arizona needed her rock, needed her wife more than anything, so in her mind, Callie needed to live and they all needed to survive this ordeal. She silently prayed and swore to whoever up there was listening that she would do anything and everything to keep her wife happy and safe as long as they made it through this. Arizona would make good on her promise to give Callie a big family, as long as the Latina survived, as long as they all survived and got back home.

_**Day 3**_

After being unconscious for more than 24 hours, Callie finally opened her eyes once again just as it neared midday. Meredith had just finished replacing the gauze on Callie's head when she saw the ortho surgeon's eyes fluttering, a sure sign that she was waking up. 

"Guys! Callie's waking up!"

"Callie? Callie, can you hear me? It's Meredith. Open your eyes, Cal."

At the sound of her friend's voice, brown eyes slowly opened and focused on the blurry figure of Meredith leaning over her. Her throat was dry and there was a dull throb in her head, though not as bad as the one that made her pass out.

"What… what happened?" The Latina croaked.

The relieved faces of Derek and Cristina also came to view now as Callie's vision slowly started to focus. "Your concussion turned out to be worse than we thought, which resulted in increased pressure in your brain. We had to relieve the pressure from your brain and drill a burr hole in your skull. Now I have to ask you a few questions to check on your neuro functions, okay?" That was Derek.

Callie tried to nod, but two pairs of hands prevented her from moving her head. "You have an open head wound, Cal. Try not to move," Cristina chastised.

"O-okay."

Derek shined the penlight in Callie's eyes, checking her pupillary response. Once he was satisfied, he helped her drink a few sips of water before he started asking her questions.

"What's your name?"

"Calliope Iphegenia Torres. I'm an orthopedic surgeon at Seattle Grace Mercy West, and we were on our way to Boise before the plane fell out of the sky. We're probably somewhere in the Olympic mountain range, and no one better repeat my middle name to anyone when we get back." The orthopod's response got a few chuckles from everyone.

Derek let out a relieved sigh, patting Callie's shoulder gently. "You're going to be okay, but you can't move alright? We'll move you closer to Arizona, and you can't fall asleep anymore, Callie. It's even more dangerous for you to fall asleep now." With that reminder, the three surgeons slowly dragged the makeshift bed they had Callie on as close as they could to Arizona.

Once her wife was within her line of sight, Callie saw the tear tracks and the look of absolute relief on her wife's face. "Hi."

Arizona choked back a sob as she reached out and grasped Callie's good hand, careful not to graze any of her wife's injuries. Yesterday, the blonde had watched as Cristina carefully plucked out all the debris embedded in her wife's chest and torso. No one had noticed them before because of the scrub top, but Callie's upper body was riddled with pieces of plane and forest debris, and the Korean resident spent a good few hours carefully plucking them out with tweezers and dabbing at the wounds with antiseptic. Now, other than her head, Callie's upper body was also heavily bandaged down to her chest.

"You scared me. Don't ever do that again, Calliope. You promised me you'd never leave me." Callie smiled weakly as she squeezed the blonde's hand. She had definitely made that promise before they boarded the plane. Her wife had another breakdown before they left and made her promise not to leave her, ever.

Chuckling softly, Callie replied, "I don't break my promises, love. It'll take more than a shooter, a car crash, a plane crash, and a head wound for me to leave your side. You're stuck with me forever, Arizona."

The two lovers chuckled softly at the memory of their shared tragedies. They both had definitely been through a lot together. Through it all, even their brief separation, they've always found their way to each other.

A cough beside Arizona interrupted their moment. Mark was also awake now, though Lexie was still sleeping peacefully as evidenced by the steady rise and fall of her chest. Apart from Lexie, Callie, and Arizona, Mark was also one of their critically injured. It was a struggle for Cristina and Arizona to keep the plastic surgeon alive and conscious, though they let Lexie sleep as much as she could since the younger woman had been spared the dangers of a head injury. Sleep was their only comfort for Lexie because they had no pain relief for her. When Callie was unconscious, Mark had already tried dying twice, much to the frustration and panic of everyone. 

Arizona turned her attention to Mark. "I don't think I'll make it…" was the quiet murmur of the man.

"No, Mark. You can't give up." Came Arizona's reply.

"You don't need me. I don't know how long I can hold on."

Callie heard the last sentence uttered and decided to speak up as well. "No! Mark! Don't you dare die on us! Sofia is waiting for you! Our daughter is waiting for you and she needs you. Lexie is also waiting for you! The love of your life is right there beside you and you want to give up!?" 

There was a brief pause before Mark spoke again. "You're right, Cal. Sofia is waiting for me, for us. And Lexie. I still… I still have a chance with her." Mark glanced over at the sleeping form of Lexie, smiling softly.

Between the two injured best friends, Arizona nodded. "That's right. So we are all going to stay alive, and we will come home to our daughter. And when we get home, you and Lexie are going to have your happy endings. No one is going to die, okay?"

Mark coughed again. "Okay. For Sofia. And for mine and Lexie’s future, whatever that would be."

"Yes. We're all going to survive for Sofia, and I better be the one walking you down the aisle when you get married too." Callie agreed, squeezing the pale hand that was still holding onto hers.

As the sun started to set, Cristina made her rounds around the four disabled individuals, making them take small sips of the clean bottled water that they had. They didn't have any food, and they only had two small bottles of clean water left. As the sun started to set, the three able-bodied surgeons made sure that Callie, Mark, Lexie, and Arizona were covered and protected from the cold before they themselves huddled closer to each other for warmth. They had long since run out of matches to start a fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it too long? Too short? Are you mad that they're still in the forest? 
> 
> Don't worry, this nightmare will all be over soon!
> 
> Again! I live for your comments and reviews! I read all of them!
> 
> Til next chapter~
> 
> -PhoenixWrites


	6. The one where seven injured surgeons and a paralyzed pilot are finally found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get worst for our surviving surgeons before it gets better.  
> It's always darkest right before the dawn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovely readers! Consider this a treat! I had been thinking of posting this for the end of the year but a sudden burst of good inspiration prompted me to post this now. I may also have another chapter to replace this one, since I planned to have this as my end of 2020 chapter. So look out for that one and hopefully I finish it in time for the last day of the year!  
> Let's hope life doesn't get in the way!
> 
> Anyway, Here's a new chapter! Enjoy

**Chapter 6: The one where seven injured surgeons and a paralyzed pilot are finally found**

**_Day 4_ **

The long cold third night seemed to be especially cruel to the stranded surgeons. More than once during the night, Mark stopped breathing, prompting a panicked cry from both Lexie and Arizona which roused their companions and had them hurrying over to revive him. Cristina decided to forgo sleep altogether as she sat vigil next to the four critically injured surgeons. In the darkness of the night, no one noticed the slowly worsening condition of the Latina lying quietly next to the prone blonde.

The cold had Callie feeling too weak and tired as the night progressed, and unknown to everyone but the one feeling the symptoms, she had started feeling the effects of a low-grade fever caused by possible infection. The Latina kept quiet through the night, hoping that her fever would break out in the morning, letting the others focus on keeping Mark alive.

As the first rays of sunlight broke through the horizon, though, Callie's fever turned into something worse. The orthopedic surgeon, unknown to everyone, had passed out halfway through the night and was now locked in a fever-induced nightmare. Her moans slowly alerted her blonde wife that something was wrong. As Arizona turned to her side to check on Callie, the blonde noticed the sheen of sweat covering her wife's face.

"Callie? What's wrong?" Arizona voiced, taking hold of the side of Callie's face, trying to gently rouse her wife to consciousness. When it didn't work, Arizona tried shaking her shoulder but only got a pained groan in response.

Seeing this, Arizona quickly caught the attention of her other colleagues. "Guys! Something's wrong with Callie!"

In three quick strides, Meredith was immediately by the Latina's side. The brunette resident laid her hand against Callie's forehead, feeling the fever, frowning as her hand came in contact with cold perspiration. Meredith then went about checking the most obvious wound, the head wound, to see if an infection had developed there. Seeing nothing but healthy flesh, the resident cleaned and changed the covering before handing Arizona a clean cloth and instructing the blonde peds surgeon to wipe down some of the sweat as she worked her way to uncovering the Latina's bandaged chest.

As soon as Meredith uncovered the chest bandages, her nose was greeted by the foul smell of infected flesh and the sight of several of Callie's deeper wounds, red angry flesh oozing yellow pus. With a curse, the brunette turned around and called for help. Soon, all three able-bodied surgeons surrounded Callie. At this point, a delirious Callie Torres had woken up and started thrashing about, crying out for help and trying to get away from the three people holding her down.

In her delirium, Callie could not recognize her surroundings. In the Latina's mind, she was being held down by strangers, evil-looking strangers with nothing but ill will towards her. "Nooo! Let me go! Arizona! HELP ME, ARIZONA! PLEASE NOOOO!"

The orthopedic surgeon's increasingly distressed cries for help triggered the blonde herself to cry as she tried to assure her wife that she wasn't in danger. Unfortunately, Callie was unaware of this. She was still trapped in her delirium induced nightmare as Derek and Cristina held her down while Meredith rooted through the medical bags for any form of sedative that they could use. They had brought with them some medication that would be needed for the surgery as well but none of them thought to carry antibiotics. As luck would have it, one of the bags contained a small bottle of a fairly strong dose of sedative. Taking a syringe and measuring just enough to hopefully calm the Latina down, Meredith took Callie's arm and injected the sedative.

The effect was almost immediate. Callie stopped struggling, but she was still delirious. Instead of struggling once again, the orthopedic surgeon just cried from fear as her mind continued to supply horrific images of the three surgeons now working to scrape off the infected flesh. 

"No, please. Leave me alone. Arizona, help me. Please…" Callie continued to cry out, though her voice was getting softer due to the sedative working through her system. Tears fell from the Latina's face in fear as her struggling became weaker, and her vision started to blur. Callie feared what would happen if she fell asleep as these strangers continued to hold her down. 

Callie called out for her wife once more, hoping that Arizona would help her. If not, she hoped her wife was safe. "Arizona! Help. Arizona. Please… Arizona…"

Next to her, Arizona wept openly as she could do nothing but listen to her wife calling out to her. It broke the blonde's heart to see the fear in her tough ortho goddess' eyes. Between the two of them, Callie was the tough fighter, and to see her so scared to the point of tears just absolutely destroyed Arizona.

On her other side, Lexie had also started crying. The pressure of their days in the forest and the worsening condition of two of their own was also weighing heavily on the usually positive young woman. Lexie tried to reach out, stretching her hand over Mark's prone body, but all she could reach was the man's midsection. So she cried with Arizona, watching her older sister and their friends struggle to help the delirious orthopedic surgeon.

Callie's cries were also having an effect on the three surgeons working on her. Meredith and Cristina also had tears running down their dirt-stained faces as they whispered assurances that fell on deaf ears as they continued to hold the still struggling woman down, waiting out the sedation before they could do more. All of them were feeling the full effects of their isolation and grim circumstance as they all thought about the struggling woman locked in a delirium nightmare and their other colleague who kept dying every few hours as his body slowly gave up before their eyes.

With her struggle clearly weaker, Derek was able to hold the surgeon down by himself as Cristina and Meredith worked in tandem, debriding and scraping off infected flesh while a helpless and distraught Arizona watched on.

A procedure that normally only takes a couple of hours took Meredith and Cristina half the day to accomplish. Unfortunately, no one decided to check on the orthopedic surgeon's hand, which hasn't been changed since it was first bandaged. Callie had gone back to the land of unconsciousness, everyone relaxed and let themselves feel the effects of the last few days. All of them had started suffering the effects of sleep deprivation, hunger, and thirst on this fourth day of being stranded. The last of their water had been given to Mark and Callie, and there was nothing else to satisfy their hunger or their thirst around them. This exhaustion combined with their shared trauma had differing effects on each of them.

As the day wore on, Cristina grew increasingly jumpy and anxious, pacing over and over and jumping at every sound. Meredith became quieter, lying down on the ground and just staring up at the trees as the day wore on. Derek himself was also feeling the full effects of his injuries. He went back to the makeshift bed he, Meredith, and Cristina had been sharing and promptly fell asleep. Arizona continued to cry silently as she watched over Callie and Mark, refusing to let go of either of their hands. Mark himself was letting out one ragged breath after ragged breath, his complexion pale and weak, barely hanging onto life himself. Lexie also silently cried as she held onto Mark's other hand. The young resident felt useless as she couldn't even sit up to check on her other colleagues, so she cried for them and held Mark's hand for his and her own comfort.

As sunlight once again started to disappear, only Cristina was still left alert and awake. The Korean resident kept careful vigil of the people around her, occasionally she would walk around and nudge those she could reach to stay awake. Everyone needed to stay awake now, even Lexie.

It was in one of her countless rounds around the clearing when the noise and lights of a low flying helicopter finally caught Cristina's attention. The Korean resident quickly ran towards the light, waving her arms madly as the welcome sight of their rescuers finally came.

\---Lost&Found---

All seven injured surgeons, along with the paralyzed pilot, were airlifted to Boise Memorial, where a team of doctors met them. The hospital wanted to take Callie, Lexie, and Mark immediately into surgery, but the five conscious doctors refused, demanding to have the presence of their own doctors and colleagues before allowing anyone to take any of them to an operating room. Meredith even went as far as to try and tackle the nurse who approached Lexie. Derek and Cristina had taken similar stances over Mark and Callie respectively, refusing treatment until their own doctors arrived.

It was a tense few hours before Owen Hunt, Miranda Bailey, Richard Webber, Amelia Shepherd, Jackson Avery, and Teddy Altman arrived at the hospital via private jet, accompanied by an orthopedic surgeon on loan from one of the Harper Avery hospitals by the name of Arthur Sheen. As soon as the SGMW team had arrived, the anxious survivors visibly relaxed and let themselves be treated.

Being the more critical patients, Callie and Mark were quickly wheeled into operating rooms after rushed scans and a hasty surgical plan was made. The urgency of the operations was all the more obvious when a nurse had uncovered the now badly infected hand of Callie. Amelia, Bailey, and Jackson led Callie's surgery while Teddy, Owen, and Richard operated on Mark. Dr. Sheen examined Arizona's leg and Derek's arm in the meantime. Lexie insisted that she could wait, having lost all feeling below her waist, she didn't see the point in going through emergency surgery now and pulling away some of the SGMW surgeons from their more critical companions. The others still refused to let anyone not from their hospital to touch them, but the junior resident allowed doctor Sheen to take scans of her pelvis and legs.

The five stable survivors were in a group ward for themselves, none of them wanting to be separated at the moment while they awaited news about Callie and Mark. Dr. Sheen started examining Lexie first, taking a look at the X-rays of her pelvis and legs. As they had suspected, part of Lexie's lumbar spine was heavily damaged, and scar tissue had already started to form. Her left leg was also broken in three places with fragments scattered about. When the doctor finally uncovered Lexie's broken leg, there was also evidence of infection. The orthopod sighed at the sight, knowing that the young woman would probably lose the leg.

When he explained this to everyone, Meredith protested loudly on behalf of her little sister. There had to be something else they could try. "Callie would be able to save that leg," the brunette snapped.

Dr. Sheen sighed. "Unfortunately, Dr. Grey, even if you are correct, we cannot wait for dr. Torres to get better. Your sister's leg has the beginnings of a serious infection. Think about it." 

"Then pump her full of antibiotics, scrape off the infection! Something, but I don't want you to amputate my little sister's leg if there is some way we can save it." Meredith insisted, and Lexie just stayed silent. It warmed the younger woman's heart that her older sister who once disliked her was now being fiercely protective.

"Sorry, dr. Sheen. I'm sure you're a great surgeon, but I would like to get back to Seattle with both legs still intact. I'm sure you can think of something." The young resident smiled softly while Dr. Sheen sighed in defeat. Instead of arguing further, the man ordered an IV drip of broad-spectrum antibiotics for the younger doctor Grey before he moved on to his next patient.

Sitting down on a stool next to Arizona's splinted leg, the doctor did his next examination. Unwrapping the rough bandages and the makeshift splint, the doctor was pleasantly surprised at how well set the bone was and he voiced this out.

Arizona and the others chuckled softly. "My wife is one of the best orthopedic surgeons on this side of the country, doctor Sheen. She made sure my leg was perfectly set and splinted out there."

Dr. Sheen nodded, "your wife is Doctor Torres, I assume? One of the two surgeons they took for emergency surgery?" The doctor asked. Arizona nodded.

Looking at Arizona again as he finished his assessment, "I shouldn't be telling you this but your wife is in the running for a Harper Avery award for her invention of artificial cartilage. The name Dr. Callie Torres has been mentioned with reverence among the orthopedic community, she's one of the rare geniuses of our field." Then the doctor turned to everyone in the room who all focused their gazes on him as he readied the supplies to redress Arizona's leg.

"You all should be proud of yourselves. You did brilliantly with what you had out there, a chest tube and emergency burr holes? Brilliant. You all saved your colleagues' lives." The five surgeons shared looks. They didn’t feel brilliant right now, they felt exhausted, traumatized, and very anxious. They were all just lucky to be alive at this point, and they would take whatever miracle they could get when it came to their two critical colleagues.

All seven surgeons stayed in Boise for a week. Arizona, Derek, and Lexie needed surgery as well, though the younger Grey still refused amputation. So instead, Bailey and dr. Sheen took out as much of the infected tissue as they could and stabilized the breaks on her leg to help it heal correctly, while Callie and Mark needed to get stronger after their surgeries before they could be moved. Richard Webber and Owen Hunt stayed in Boise with them during all of this, monitoring their colleagues as they all slowly recovered from their shared trauma.

On their last day in Boise, the problem of transporting seven surgeons arose. The five conscious surgeons refused to board a plane. Callie and Mark were still unconscious, so it wouldn't be a problem to transport them. It was Arizona, Cristina, Meredith, Lexie, and Derek who were proving tricky to convince.

All five of them refused to go on an airplane while conscious, so it was decided that all of them would be heavily sedated before they were taken on board an airplane headed for Seattle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think?
> 
> Are you ready to burn me at the stake or was that a good-ish sort of end to their days in the forest?  
> I followed canon on the timeline, didn't really want to extend their agony especially since Mark is getting worst and so is Callie. Let's not forget Lexie with a crushed pelvis and Arizona's broken leg, it made sense to not keep them as long trapped. Humans can only survive for so long without food and water.
> 
> Also! If I have not replied to your review, still know that I am reading all of them and I appreciate all of you! I'll give all my reviewers a special shout out on the next chapter, so fingers crossed that we can get a chapter done before New Year!
> 
> P.S. I've decided to publish this on another site but my name is different cuz that site already has a user with my name but if you ever stumble upon it there(it has two F's and a net) Banewrites is not plagiarizing my work! It's kinda hard to plagiarize your work if you're the same person hehe.
> 
> -Phoenixwrites


	7. The one where the surgeons come home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The surgeons are back in Seattle Grace Mercy West but is SGMW ready for the survivors?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone! This is my promised New Year chapter!
> 
> I don't know about the rest of the world but in my part of the world, I posted this midnight on Jan 1, 2021 :D
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing. ABC and Shonda own all the rights and stuff on Grey's Anatomy, otherwise, there would have been some changes if I owned it haha. I'm just playing, nothing is for profit.
> 
> I'm going to be taking this chunk to give a shout out to my loyal readers who review and make themselves known in the comments! THANK YOU! Your reviews give me life and motivation to continue on with the story.  
> THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING REVIEWERS FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT IN THE COMMENTS FROM CHAPTER 1 TO THE LATEST:  
> Beeex3  
> BlueSky15  
> MadMegs  
> Vivi90  
> CakeLoverForLife  
> great  
> ColdSnowQueen  
> A_Marley  
> Brady252  
> Conundrum  
> Melody2dusk  
> eveaprilx  
> Barbara27  
> rwill178  
> And to all the guests and everyone who has given the story Kudos! THANK YOU
> 
> Happy New Year everyone!  
> Enjoy this new chapter  
> -Phoenixwrites

**Chapter 7: The one where the surgeons come home**

**_Two weeks after Boise_ **

Seattle Grace Mercy West had been thrust in the spotlight when the disappearance of a plane full of world-renowned surgeons had been reported in the national news. The whole medical community and the nation, in general, had reached out with their sympathies as the staff of one of the best teaching hospitals in the country was suddenly crippled.

Overnight, the hospital became a hotbed of media frenzy. Chief of Surgery Owen Hunt fielded interviews and calls left and right, while the remaining staff was left to pick up the pieces and pray for the safe return of their colleagues. Everyone who was left behind felt the cold grasp of fear as the chief delivered the news in a closed-door meeting of all the doctors and staff who were considered family or friends of those who disappeared, and everyone couldn't help but think of the worst as they heard the news. Everyone had a different reaction to it.

Richard Webber retreated to OR 2's scrub room and shed tears in front of the sink where he and Meredith had washed Ellis' ashes down the drain. This was Ellis' favorite room in the whole hospital, and the older gentleman found himself seeking solace with the ghost of his deceased lover while Ellis' surviving daughter was lost somewhere between life and death, an unknowing fear overcoming the usually put together man as he leaned heavily over the sink and his shoulders started to shake. A passing nurse Bohkee saw her former chief of surgery breaking down through the door's window and promptly placed a janitor's unavailable sign in front of the door without a word, giving Richard time to break down and compose himself before anyone else saw him.

Amelia Shepherd wasn't in the hospital when the announcement happened. She was in Meredith's house, having put down a sleepy Zola, she was just unwinding with a good medical journal on the latest innovations in neurosurgery when the call came. Owen Hunt delivered the worst possible news that the youngest Shepherd could have ever received. Her brother, her hero, and his wife, her sister-in-law, had both gone missing. According to what she heard just before the phone dropped from her hands, the plane had never made it to Boise, and no one could tell them where it could have disappeared. Amelia's world shifted, and she needed a drink or twelve. The woman instinctively walked towards the liquor cabinet in the living room when she stumbled over one of Zola's toys, and she paused. Zola, her beautiful one-year-old niece, who was sleeping soundly upstairs with no knowledge that she might possibly be orphaned again, stopped Amelia from indulging her addictions. Instead, the young woman picked up the toy and cradled it to her chest as she cried silent tears of fear and anxiety for the fate of her brother and sister-in-law.

Miranda Bailey refused to believe that her friend, and the only other surgeon left from her class of interns since Sydney Heron transferred, was possibly dead. She'd known Callie Torres for years now, and if there was something she always admired about her competition, no one else comes close to being Bailey's rival but Torres, it was that Callie Torres was stubborn and tough as hell. Physically speaking, Torres was, is, tough; The orthopedic surgeon had survived more challenges in the past years and had bounced back as if nothing had happened. Miranda Bailey needed to keep the faith but she also hugged her son, Tucker, tighter when she got him and Sofia from daycare. As the head of general surgery walked out of the hospital toting two young children, Miranda walked tall. She walked with composure and an air of confidence because the single mother wouldn't know what to do with herself if she let the dark thoughts invade her mind, and she needed to be strong on the outside, even if her heart was breaking inch by inch with every step she took away from the hospital while holding a beautiful little girl who might end up orphaned after today. No, Miranda was going to keep her faith and pray to God that her colleagues and friends would be found soon and taken home safe.

Alex Karev, dubbed Evil Spawn, left the conference room as soon as the announcement was made. He was the first one out. Alex Karev didn't do attachment or feelings or emotions and all that other crap, except he did. He had an attachment to Meredith Grey, the only person who believed in him even when he was the asshole intern. He felt fear for Cristina Yang, the resident he secretly admired and strived to be as a surgeon. Alex Karev's emotions were all over the place as he walked out of the elevator onto the pediatric floor of the hospital, his feet leading him to the NICU tree of preemie babies who had beaten all the odds and made it. He felt guilt and shame as he stared at the photo of baby Sofia surrounded by her proud parents, all of whom were on the very plane that had disappeared. Alex Karev was not an optimistic man, and he fully believed that the odds of all seven surgeons surviving a plane crash was low. As he silently stood in front of the photo of her mentor's family, the man silently vowed to take responsibility for his, in his mind, part in possibly making a child an orphan and do everything in his power to make sure Sofia had someone in her corner. To do it, to atone for his guilt, Alex had to remain in Seattle so the man immediately called Johns Hopkins back and declined the offer of fellowship; he would accept the SGMW fellowship instead and prayed that whoever would mentor him would at least be as good as Arizona Robbins-Torres had been.

Owen Hunt was the last man left in the conference room, and once everyone was gone, the man dropped heavily onto a chair and buried his face in his hands. His wife and six other amazing surgeons, most of which Owen considered friends, were missing somewhere between Seattle and Boise and he needed to find them. The problem was, Owen Hunt didn't know where to look, and he didn't know what to do when he finally found them if there was anything to be found. So the man let himself freeze for one minute before he picked up the phone and started calling every favor he could from his days in the army and his current position as chief of surgery of one of the leading teaching hospitals in the US. Time was of the essence because if they had survived a crash, Cristina and the others didn't have a lot of time before injuries, starvation, thirst, and whatever the elements could do would devour them. He'd lost someone he loved dearly before, and he refused to stand aside like he did then if there was even a chance he could at least recover his wife's body. So the chief of surgery spent his whole days and nights in the hospital, coordinating with army contacts, search and rescue, and all nearby sources he could find to locate his missing surgeons and his wife. Owen Hunt would not be resting for a good while.

Exactly eleven days after their disappearance and rescue, seven unconscious and heavily sedated surgeons were returned to Seattle via a private military plane transport courtesy of nearby Fort Lewis. The military transport plane was the only thing big enough to transport seven hospital gurneys with all the portable medical equipment needed to move the two critically injured surgeons within the group.

Everyone on staff rejoiced when doctors Webber and Hunt arrived with seven ambulances transporting their previously missing colleagues. The doom and gloom of the hospital were quickly replaced by hope and celebration once the first gurney was wheeled in through the Emergency Room.

Various gifts, cards, and flowers greeted the five surgeons who were sedated once they woke up in their private rooms while the two critically injured ones were put in private suites on the critical care floor of the hospital for round the clock monitoring.

Unfortunately, the celebratory air did not last long. As soon as the five surgeons woke up, everyone was given a painful reminder of just how deep a trauma the survivors of the plane crash had experienced. No one on staff was prepared for the changes they would experience with their colleagues. All the changes within their colleagues would send the hospital reeling, the whole staff being witnesses to the effects of their shared trauma and the changes caused by Post Traumatic Stress.

As soon as she woke up, the normally cheerful and calm head of pediatric surgery, Dr. Arizona Robbins-Torres, had screamed hysterically upon not seeing her wife. She was inconsolable as she continued to cry out for her other half and had to be sedated multiple times before Chief Hunt finally relented and had the blonde doctor transferred into the same room as her wife. That was the only thing that calmed her down. Arizona's leg didn't need more than a few metal plates and some screws to make sure that her fracture healed correctly, and the blonde doctor credited it all to her wife's skills even when they all had limited resources out there in the woods. As soon as she was transferred to her wife's room and was calmed down significantly, Arizona was a lot easier to handle and tended to spend most of her time watching over her unconscious wife. 

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD often manifested in different ways for people, even if they share trauma. Arizona’s PTSD manifested in extreme paranoia and anxiety, often triggered by the absence of her wife or her PTSD nightmares that are paranoia induced scenarios of Callie Torres dying. This led to sleep deprivation, the blonde fighting off sleep in favor of watching her wife, making sure she was still breathing. There was also a desperate need to always be close to her other half that had been there before but seemed to have magnified to epic proportions because Arizona absolutely refused to leave Callie’s side, especially now that her wife was still in critical condition and unconscious.

Meredith Grey absolutely refused to be admitted for more than one night after they arrived at the hospital. She claimed that she was perfectly fine apart from a minor bump on the head and a small cut on her leg that had already healed back in Boise. The surgical resident discharged herself the next day against medical advice, forcing a reluctant Amelia Shepherd to take her home so she could take care of Zola, her daughter, and Sofia, whose parents were all still in need of medical care in the hospital. So once she was out of the hospital, no one saw Meredith Grey linger for more than a few hours during visitation hours to let the two young children see their parents and to visit Lexie. 

This pattern went on for a week until a heated argument erupted between her and chief Hunt when the brunette requested to be allowed to work once again. After that, Dr. Grey refused to come back to the hospital for a few days before resuming her routine of coming into the hospital for a few hours to visit her fellow survivors, toting two confused small children with her every day. Ever since their fight, Meredith refused to acknowledge the existence of the ginger-haired chief of surgery. 

Meredith Grey’s PTSD manifested in denial and avoidance, the resident refusing to acknowledge her trauma or even talk about it, choosing instead to push everything back as she concentrated on something else. That something else being things she can control, like taking care of her daughter and her friends’ daughter, to satisfy her need to be in control after the feeling of helplessness and loss of control for their situation back in the forest. Meredith Grey had also developed a fierce protectiveness over her fellow survivors but it was worse with regards to Lexie Grey. After almost losing her sister in the wreck, the resident always spent the most time talking to Lexie during her visits, letting Zola and Sofia play with the younger resident, almost obsessively double-checking her stats and charts whenever she visited, and getting to know her half-sister better; the two Grey sisters talked more during this time than they ever did when they first started working together.

Derek Shepherd maintained his polite disposition around his colleagues, though everyone could see that the neurosurgeon was more subdued and not as talkative or entertaining of his guests. He didn't give anyone checking on him more than a small smile, and didn't give more than short answers to any question he was given. Derek was also fixating on his injured hand, constantly questioning when someone would come up with some form of plan to fix it. 

Even Dr. Sheen, the orthopedic surgeon on loan from a Harper Avery hospital, was unable to give a satisfactory plan to fix Derek's hand. More than once, the surprisingly patient dr. Sheen was the recipient of a biting remark from Dr. Derek Shepherd about how, if they were awake and able, Callie Torres and even Mark Sloan would have been able to come up with a plan by now. Derek Shepherd, along with everyone in the crash, developed PTSD. His was in the form of polarizing moods but the neurosurgeon had thus far been able to control it, though the anger was always just below the surface. So far, only Dr. Sheen had been the recipient of his biting remarks, and Derek’s focus was solely on his hand and the frustratingly slow progress of finding a way to fix it.

Lexie had also requested to be moved to Mark's room, the same as what they had done for Arizona and Callie. When she was initially refused, the resident ripped off her IV and refused treatment. Every single time a nurse tried to reinsert her IV drip, the resident just took it off again. To say that everyone was frustrated with the young woman was an understatement, and once again, chief Hunt had to relent and let Lexie be transferred to the room with Mark. After that, Lexie was more complacent and a little more pleasant to the staff. Her infection had worsened since their return to Seattle but the young woman still refused amputation.

Lexie Grey was not an idiot. She knew her chances of walking again on both legs were slim to none, and it didn’t really matter whether she lost her leg or not. As a surgeon, even just as a junior resident, she knew she would most likely still be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life even if they could restore sensation and fix her fractured lumbar spine. Lexie was fixating on keeping herself whole, not losing anything to the trauma and the crash. She had accepted back in the forest that she would never walk again but she never accepted that she wouldn’t be whole coming out of the nightmare, and the younger Grey refused the reality that the crash would be taking more than just her ability to walk, even if her legs would be useless, she’d want to at least have both.

Cristina Yang was the opposite of her fellow survivors. Ever since she woke up from her sedation, the resident had gone mute. She absolutely refused to speak even a word to anyone, barely acknowledging anyone's presence except for bouts of violence every now and then when groups of gossiping nurses or interns would pass by her room. At one point, a group of interns made the mistake of standing outside the Korean resident's room as they blatantly stared at her and speculated about what happened in the forest. Without any warning, a vase of flowers was thrown quite forcefully onto the viewing window of the hospital room, shattering the vase completely and leaving large cracks on the window. This effectively startled every staff member nearby and got the shocked interns scurrying away from the scene. No one bothered to linger around Cristina Yang's room after that, and only Miranda Bailey would venture to even do the cursory checks and vitals every day.

It wasn't much better for the two comatose surgeons either. They were quieter, less likely to be hysterical, rude, or refuse treatment but the staff was saddened every single time they checked on the two unconscious surgeons. The chief of surgery even went as far as to request aid from other hospitals, especially since he had fired his head of cardio, Teddy Altman, the same night as the accident and the blonde had relocated to Germany's MedCom a week before the survivors arrived in Seattle. A personal request to find Erica Hahn and Preston Burke had been put out by Richard Webber in hopes of getting at least one of the world-renowned surgeons to come and take a look at Mark Sloan's condition. Tom Koracick of Johns Hopkins had also been requested to come out to examine Callie Torres. Preston Burke had declined due to him now living in Switzerland. Erica Hahn, on the other hand, had answered the call and was in Seattle the next day. Tom Koracick had also agreed to come in once Amelia Shepherd had called him personally for help.

Both world-renowned surgeons agreed to examine both comatose patients. Erica Hahn ruled out any possible internal damage and trauma after running every possible scan on Callie Torres, assuring them that the infection had not reached any vital organs at all. The blonde cardiothoracic surgeon even lingered a bit longer at her former friend and lover's bedside, much to the obvious displeasure of Callie's wife. Doctor Sheen had also cleared Callie's previously infected right hand, although he cautioned that the hand itself would need to be checked for nerve damage and have extensive Physical Therapy before the ortho goddess could handle a scalpel again. Tom Koracick and Amelia Shepherd, on the other hand, worried over the bruising of Callie's brain and a worrying injury at the bottom of her lumbar spine that they had found by accident when Dr. Sheen shared with them a full-body X-ray of the Latina. The orthopedic surgeon had definitely suffered more than a severe concussion evidenced by the obvious brain contusion from the CT scan. Tom claimed it dumb luck that the burr hole had evacuated most of the bleeding and didn't cause any catastrophic swelling. Amelia claimed it as a miracle and genius move on the other surgeons' part.

Callie Torres was placed under a medically induced coma after careful examination and deliberation from the two neurosurgeons to prevent further damage should the orthopedic surgeon wake up suddenly, and promote further healing. Arizona had initially protested but relented once the two neurosurgeons explained the matter further with her. Callie's brain needed a lot of time to heal, and even then, there was no telling how much of her motor and neurological functions the Latina would've retained with such an injury, even if she did initially respond well after the burr hole was drilled. With regards to her infected other wounds and her broken shoulder, Miranda Bailey and Dr. Sheen did a simultaneous surgery to take out all the infected flesh and fix Callie's shoulder. Barring any other complication, they would only need to focus on helping the Latina heal from her traumatic brain injury and rehabilitating her right hand above anything else.

Mark Sloan was a different story altogether. Erica Hahn ran the same plethora of tests and scans on her former colleague and found that his chest x-ray wasn't as clear as they first thought back in Boise after his first surgery. Erica had ordered the plastic surgeon back into an operating table, and upon opening him up, she had found that his right lung was riddled with infection. Silently cursing, the female cardio goddess worked tirelessly in the OR to try and salvage as much as she could. Unfortunately, the infection had taken over Mark Sloan's right lung and the only way to save him was to take it out and put Mark on the transplant list for a new lung. Normally, they wouldn't take out a lung without the replacement organ ready but the risk of the infection spreading to his left lung or his heart was too great. Like Callie, Dr. Erica Hahn had Mark placed in a medically induced coma for one month, the same duration as Callie, to help with his recovery and buy as much time as they needed to find a donor.

**_Four weeks after Boise_ **

It took an additional two weeks before Cristina and Arizona were discharged from the hospital. Meredith had once again made an appearance in the hospital, a baby carrier on her chest with a sleeping Zola against it while she pushed a stroller with an awake Sofia. Hospital staff refused to release the cardio resident and the head of peds without someone to pick them up from the hospital. Meredith had immediately agreed for both to be released in her care, and with the help of Owen and Amelia, both surgeons were taken to the Grey house. Cristina and Arizona would be moving in temporarily with Meredith during their recovery, and all three of them would have each other for support while waiting for their better halves and their friend to recover from their own injuries.

It took a lot of bargaining and some begging on the hospital’s part for Arizona to leave Callie’s bedside, the blonde still fearing that her wife might fade away in her absence. The hospital had to bargain that Arizona could take her pager and be given hourly updates on Callie, however tedious, and that a nurse or a resident would be in the orthopod’s room at all times to monitor her stats. The other thing that finally convinced Arizona to leave the hospital was the sight of her daughter. As soon as she’d seen her mother, Sofia had exclaimed “mama!” and demanded to be picked up by her blonde mother. Arizona didn’t let go of Sofia the whole day, even letting her daughter sleep next to her on the guest bed in Meredith’s house that they would be living in temporarily as they all recovered. Sofia was the closest Arizona could be with a part of Callie outside of the hospital, and she clung onto her baby girl the same way she desperately clung on to hope for her wife’s recovery.

A day after the two surgeons were discharged and picked up by Meredith, an excited Jackson Avery ran into Derek's room. The young plastics protege had finally found a plan that would help the neurosurgeon repair the nerve damage in his hand, and all the young resident had to do was make extensive research that included a little bit of snooping around in Callie's personal laboratory in the orthopedic wing of the hospital. The excited resident shared his findings from one of Callie's many research notes on reconstructive surgery innovations, calling Dr. Sheen in as well to get a second opinion. Derek gave out his first true laugh when the excited resident explained to him and an equally perplexed orthopedic surgeon how he had found the idea from looking through Dr. Torres' research. It seems that even when she wasn't physically able to, Callie's unique way of seeing things still found a way to help others. Derek was hopeful that dr. Sheen and Jackson would be able to pull off the repair, the neurosurgeon ignoring the sudden silence of the older orthopedic surgeon in the room.

Unfortunately, at the same time that Derek was receiving good news, the heart monitor for Lexie Grey started blaring as the resident started going into septic shock from the infection on her leg. Dr. Sheen had to go into emergency surgery and amputate Lexie's leg just above the knee, leaving as much healthy bone and muscle as he could so that the young woman could be fitted for a prosthetic. While she was out, Tom Koracick and Amelia Shepherd along with dr. Sheen also took this time to run every scan they could of her spine. Lexie Grey's surgical team was finally able to see a clear view of the extent of Lexie's spinal injury. 

It turns out that two of her lumbar spine vertebrae were severely fractured and a clot was compressing the nerves, which was the reason for Lexie's paralysis and loss of feeling. Tom and Amelia were confident that they could restore feeling, if not movement, in Lexie’s lower half but she would need several surgeries, a long recovery, and intensive physical therapy to achieve this but Dr. Sheen was doubtful of Lexie’s chances to walk again with how bad the injury to her lumbar spine was. Meredith was surprised to learn that Lexie had appointed her as medical care proxy but she consented to the surgeries on Lexie's behalf as long as they swore to do everything to save Lexie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're back home!!!!
> 
> What do you think of the little passages about Webber, Bailey, Karev, and Hunt? I wanted to reflect a bit of the effects of the crash on the people who were left behind. In the show, I hated how downplayed the effects of a traumatic event like this was on people like Callie, who was potentially facing becoming a single mother when she got the news, so I decided to add a little bit of insight on the thoughts running through their heads as they got the news that the people close to them were just gone, disappeared, missing, presumably dead.
> 
> Anyway, thank you all once again for the wonderful reception tot his story.
> 
> I hope everyone has a good New Year. Happy New Year everyone!  
> -Phoenixwrites


	8. The one where Callie finally wakes up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every day that passes by, their hope gets chipped bit by bit. Will things ever get better?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies! I finally finished chapter 8 of Lost and Found!
> 
> I know it took me a lot longer this time but this fic has been getting deeper, and at some points, darker. I have a plan, well... my muse has a plan, but things aren't as doom and gloom as before so we'll hopefully have cute and aww moments after this.
> 
> As always, Shonda Rhimes created this and ABC produces it. I just play around and borrow our favorite doctors! I also don't have a medical degree, so I have no idea about all of this medical jargon apart from what google tells me.
> 
> Thank you to all of you who have left comments and kudos!  
> -Phoenixwrites

**Chapter 8: The one where Callie finally wakes up**

It's been almost two months since Callie and Mark were put under a medically induced coma, and they've both been slowly eased off of the drugs two weeks ago. Unfortunately, neither Callie nor Mark had shown any signs of consciousness or brain activity, much to the dismay of everyone in the hospital, both doctors have yet to wake up. The prospect of their fellow survivors possibly waking up was all the incentive Arizona, Cristina, and Meredith needed to come back to the hospital. 

All three surgeons parked themselves beside a bed each, while Meredith spent her day flitting between Derek's room and the other two ICU rooms, where Lexie was still also staying with Mark. Since her amputation and the need for several spinal surgeries, Lexie was under heavy sedation most times but Meredith kept her company in the hours when she was awake. 

When she was awake, the younger Grey would be in one of two states: bad days and good days. On her good days, Lexie would be talking to Meredith and always asked to see Sofia and Zola. During those days, a glimmer of the old optimistic Lexie would surface though the two sisters avoided the topic of the younger woman's amputated leg and her paralysis. On her bad days, Lexie would go into a depressive state. She would either be bawling in Meredith's arms or quiet and subdued, barely speaking a word and ignoring everyone but her sister. Those days were especially hard to see because, during their whole ordeal, Lexie had always been the optimist, even when they were facing worsening odds in the forest. It seemed that even their ray of hope was going down a dark and twisty path, and it hurt Meredith to see her sister during her bad days.

Cristina was getting better, finally talking to her housemates and Derek, but her inexplicable anger towards everything was still present. Wherever the Korean resident was, every staff member knew to steer clear. The only exceptions to her anger were her goddaughters, Bailey, and her fellow survivors. She still refused to talk to anyone other than them. Part of Cristina Yang never came back from the forest, just like everyone who had been there. No one had spoken about it yet but none of the surviving doctors were very happy with their hospital or their chief of surgery. Even though he was her husband, Cristina refused to even acknowledge Owen Hunt's existence whenever he was around.

The longer Callie stayed unconscious, the more unstable Arizona's mood seemed to get. The blonde spent the first four weeks of Callie in a coma to recover from her own injuries and spend time with her daughter, though she had immediately come back to the hospital on the day they eased the Latina off of the medication and never left since then. Arizona's fear and anxiety about Callie's condition worsened as the days passed by with no progress. Meredith would come in every day and bring her food, fresh clothes, and Sofia but never asked the blonde to go home because Meredith understood and would probably be in the same state if Derek was the one in Callie's position. 

Unlike her other fellow survivors, though, Arizona still interacted with some of the staff whenever they came to update Callie's charts. There was one exception to the blonde's politeness, though, and it was one Alex Karev. The peds resident had once tried to approach Arizona to check up on her but got the cold shoulder, and every time he tried since then had come to the same results. A week into his efforts, the resident had tried one last time to talk to Arizona.

"This is crap, Robbins. You can't ignore me forever." Alex spoke up as soon as he entered Callie's room. Arizona was sitting up in her own bed that was pushed up next to her wife's.

"It's Dr. Robbins-Torres to you, Dr. Karev. And I can do whatever I damn well want because I have nothing to say to you, now leave before I find a brick." Arizona's voice was uncharacteristically cold, something she'd never used on others before.

Alex frowned but didn't move. He stubbornly stood just inside the door. "What the hell? Are you still mad at me because I wanted to go to Hopkins? You went to Hopkins!"

"I'm mad because your inconsiderate ass decides to accept a fellowship without talking to me or giving me a heads up first before you said yes! Do you know how much time and effort and patience I invested in you? And you throw all of that to my face by saying that you accepted the fellowship at Hopkins!" Arizona's voice increased in volume at the end of her rant, her face now full of anger as she stared down the stubborn resident.

"Hopkins is the best pediatric hospital in the nation! And they wanted me!" Alex retorted.

"I wanted you here! Seattle Grace Mercy West invested all their time and resources in you, and I took you in when no one wanted to work with you! I was the one who saw your potential for pediatric surgery! You didn't even think to at least tell me you were thinking about other fellowships!?" The bitterness and resentment were starting to seep into every word the blonde spit at her once mentee.

"You're being unreasonable, Robbins! How many freaking opportunities did you think I was gonna get at getting into a place like Hopkins? I'm nothing here, people here only see me as the selfish asshole…" Alex was rambling as well now, matching his mentor's raised volume as he tried to justify his choices.

"You're an ass who only takes care of himself and doesn't think about the people who care about him, and I'm done trying to turn you into an actual human being. Get out of my sight, Karev, and don't come back." Arizona cut off the resident. The hurt and resentment still ran deep for her, and she didn't feel like reasoning or discussing anything further with the man so she turned away from him.

"This is crap," Alex grumbled before he left the room. Since then, no one had seen Alex Karev even go up to the critical care floor. He had avoided Arizona as much as possible but he did spend his free time helping Meredith and Amelia take care of Sofia, after making them swear not to alert Arizona of this fact.

With Sofia's mother and father still unconscious in the ICU, and her other mother refusing to leave Callie's side, the young Latina found herself spending time either in daycare with Zola, in Derek's room during visiting hours with Arizona stopping by for a few hours every day to spend time with her, or spending the night in Meredith's house with Zola, under the watchful eyes of Amelia Shepherd and Alex Karev. Meredith, Cristina, and Arizona had refused to come home now, not wanting to miss even a second when or if their colleagues would wake up.

As the third week of Callie and Mark still unconscious came around, the four waiting surgeons, a mostly conscious Lexie, and other hospital staff were starting to feel discouraged. Every single night, Arizona would shed tears at her wife's bedside, clutching Callie's unresponsive hand as she prayed to a God she didn't even believe in for her wife to wake up. The more time passed with no improvement, the more the blonde peds surgeon felt a sense of hopelessness.

This wasn't supposed to be how it ended for them, did it? They had barely been married for a year before this tragedy struck them, and Sofia wasn't even old enough to retain memories of her other mother or her father. It felt entirely unfair as Arizona studied her wife's face. Absentmindedly, the blonde brushed her fingers lightly over her wife's relaxed brows, tracing her face, memorizing every contour, every line, every definition of Calliope Torres.

Feeling another fresh wave of tears spill forth from her already red and swollen eyes, Arizona stood up and brushed her lips against those of her wife's unresponsive ones before turning around and leaving. She couldn't look at the prone form of her wife anymore, not like this. Arizona still refused to accept the growing possibility that Callie might never wake up, refused to believe that this was it for them. That this is how their story ended but she also needed to get away, to find comfort and not look at Callie's still form. It was causing her even more pain that the person who Arizona had always gone to for comfort wasn't able to offer it to her because Callie was in a coma and it was possible that she might never wake up. Unconsciously, the blonde found herself standing outside Derek Shepherd's hospital room, the only room in the hospital where the blonde and her fellow survivors all felt any sort of comfort within the walls of a hospital they all used to love.

Arizona found Meredith and Cristina already there, sitting quietly around Derek's bed. All three surgeons mirrored the grief and hopelessness that was reflected in Arizona's face. Wordlessly, Meredith got up and sat on the edge of her husband's bed, leaving the chair open right next to Cristina. The blonde peds surgeon fell heavily onto the chair, dropping her crutches to the floor. A pale hand took Arizona's beside her, squeezing, and that was all it took for the dam to break. The blonde let out heart-wrenching sobs as the three surgeons around her also let themselves shed tears for the two people they all loved who were still fighting for their lives. As much hope as they could carry, each day that there had been no improvements slowly chipped away at everyone's resolve. Right now, all four of them were hoping for miracles.

The miracles came in the form of two out of breath interns rushing into Derek's room, where the three women had once again decided to hang out, though Arizona had initially been reluctant when Cristina had picked her up from Callie's room, the next day. Both interns were breathless, stuttering out the news that had all four surgeons rushing out.

"They're waking up."

Arizona spent no time hopping as fast as she could in her crutches towards the nearest elevator, followed closely by Cristina and Meredith, who was pushing Derek in a wheelchair. Once on their desired floor, the four surgeons separated. Meredith and Derek went straight to Mark's room, while Arizona and Cristina went to Callie's.

Inside Callie's room, Amelia was excitedly watching the brain activity monitor as it spiked to indicate that the orthopedic surgeon was indeed showing signs of waking up. There were also visible signs with her facial features shifting, her brow creasing, eyelids fluttering, and her fingers twitching on the bed.

Parking herself on the chair next to Callie's bed, while Cristina stayed at the foot, Arizona immediately grasped Callie's hand. "Calliope. I'm here, baby. Open those beautiful brown eyes for me, Calliope." The peds surgeon kept her tone soft as she coaxed her wife, smiling brightly when she felt Callie squeezing her hand.

"That's it, honey. I'm right here, listen to my voice. I love you so much, Calliope. You have to wake up for me now." Arizona continued coaxing her wife to consciousness with the silent encouragement of Amelia and Cristina. The more Arizona talked, the more Callie seemed to be able to pull herself out of her long sleep.

Slowly, Callie's eyes opened and brown eyes met blue for what felt like the first time in years. Arizona couldn't help the choked sob she let out as she finally gazed upon the eyes of her wife, those deep brown eyes that she had been praying to see for almost two months now.

Except something was wrong. Instead of warmth or recognition, Callie's eyes were filled with fear and confusion. The Latina jerked her hand away from Arizona, her head turning slowly to look around her. Brown eyes could recognize that she was in a hospital, could identify that she had probably had major surgery or had been in a bad accident but she could not recognize the two people around her hospital bed. The only one she actually did recognize was Cristina Yang, who looked haggard and tired at the foot of her bed.

Callie wanted to speak, wanted to ask, wanted to voice out her questions but the soft plastic tube that was probably helping her breathe for the past however many days was preventing that. Putting her good but bandaged hand up, the confused Latina pointed to her breathing tube, coughing as her body had now caught up and tried to breathe through the tube.

Immediately, Amelia sprung into action. "Calm down, Callie. We'll take your breathing tube out, okay? Give me a good cough in 3...2...1!" With a quick practiced movement, the neurosurgeon took out the breathing tube, replacing it with a nasal cannula to help deliver much-needed oxygen to the newly woken surgeon.

Still coughing, Callie was finally able to voice her questions. "Who are you? Cristina? Who…are...they? What…happened? Erica?" The Latina's final question was directed at the door, where the blonde female cardiothoracic surgeon stood, wanting to check on Callie and catching the tail end of the Latina's confused questioning.

Everyone in the room stood frozen for a good few seconds until the younger Shepherd snapped herself out of it to examine and treat Callie like any patient with a traumatic brain injury. "Hi, I'm Dr. Amelia Shepherd. I'm your neurosurgeon. Do you remember your name?"

Callie turned away from staring at Erica to focus on the doctor. Shepherd? "Like Derek Shepherd? I'm Dr. Callie Torres of Seattle Grace hospital, a fifth-year surgical resident specializing in Orthopedic Surgery. Where are we?" The Latina answered the question matter of factly.

To her utter confusion, this seemed to cause an extreme reaction to those around her. The pretty blonde who had been holding her hand gasped loudly, and her surgeon, this female Dr. Shepherd, cringed. Cristina had emitted a loud sigh, while the only one who seemed to stay quiet was Erica, who had moved into the room. "What's going on?" Callie asked, looking around at them.

Instead of female Dr. Shepherd answering her question, it was Erica who spoke first. "What do you remember last, Cal?"

Callie frowned and stared at Erica. "You and I had a fight in front of the hospital about the LVAD rumors, and and…" tears sprung from the Latina's eyes as she recalled the only thing she could remember as her most recent memory.

"You left. That's all I remember. I remember watching you walk away. I remember feeling like every step you took farther away from me felt like a stab to my chest and…" Callie was full-on sobbing now as she remembered, the pain once again fresh in her memory. Unknown to her, this had been a memory years in the past, but her injured mind could not recall anything further than that.

Without hesitation, Erica Hahn strode over to Callie's bedside and sat down at the edge of her bed, pulling the sobbing woman into a gentle hug, mindful of her many tubes, wires, and her injuries. "It's alright, Cal. Please calm down. You'll aggravate your injuries. Come on now, Cal. Deep breaths. That's it, breath slowly." The blonde cardio surgeon coached the Latina and eventually helped her calm down.

From her position in the chair, Arizona watched Callie turn her body towards the other blonde. She watched her wife bury her face into a neck that wasn't hers, grasping the shirt of another woman like her life depended on it. It pained Arizona so much that her wife, her wonderful but broken wife didn't remember her at all and sought comfort in another woman's arms, the only woman she probably remembered at all right now. The blonde peds surgeon knew about their history, knew that Erica Hahn was Callie's first girlfriend, her first female lover. The doctor in her already knows that Callie was suffering retrograde amnesia as a result of her traumatic brain injury, but the distraught wife in her wanted to cry out in pain at seeing her wife seek comfort in someone else who was not her. Unable to take any more of it, Arizona wordlessly got up with her crutches and hobbled out of the room, heading to the next door ICU room to escape from the scene before her. Maybe once she remembered again, Callie would forgive Arizona for running away this time.

The blonde found herself standing outside of the ICU room next door, where another survivor had also woken up. Arizona watched through the glass doors with a twinge of jealousy as Lexie held Mark's hand, both smiling and talking to the other couple in the room. This room was positive, no complications arose from the critical patient in this room. In the room right in front of Arizona, people were happy and relieved to see Mark Sloan awake, and Mark remembered every single one of them.

Sighing, Arizona turned her sad gaze to the closed door of her wife's room. Her wife, her world, her rock, the mother of her child. Calliope Iphegenia Robbins-Torres, Arizona's miracle and the love of her life, didn't know who she was, and it broke her heart into a million pieces all over again. Callie Torres woke up but Arizona still felt like her wife was still gone.

With another sigh, the blonde opened the door to Mark's room, catching everyone's attention. She tried to muster a happy face but her eyes were still sad and her smile wasn't convincing either. Lexie spoke up first.

"Did Callie…?"

Arizona shook her head, "she's awake."

"Then what's wrong?" Derek questioned.

At this, the blonde sighed heavily. "Calliope woke up but she doesn't remember anything from the past four years. Her last memory is watching Erica Hahn walking away." Repeating the news to the worried looks from the boys and the gasps from the girls just made Arizona's heart ache even more.

Her voice and her whole body shook while tears blurred her vision. "My wife woke up and she doesn't know who I am or that we have a daughter or that we're married and she… she was there, clinging onto someone else and… she recoiled from me when she woke up and… she woke up but she isn't my Calliope." Arizona was vaguely aware of someone's hands leading her down onto a chair, and the same arms enveloped her in a hug as the peds surgeon broke down. Around her, Meredith shared sad glances with everyone as she hugged the distraught blonde close. It seemed that when things were starting to look up, something still went wrong.


	9. The one where bad news just keeps piling up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I have a new update for you, and I really hope you don't kill me for this update.  
> Warning: This chapter isn't a happy one... yet.
> 
> Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Shonda Rhimes and ABC. I own nothing, I'm just borrowing these characters.
> 
> Enjoy!

**Chapter 9: The one where the bad news just keeps piling up**

Back in Callie's room, Erica continued to hold the distraught woman, and the Latina clung to the taller blonde as she tried to calm herself. Around them, Amelia and Cristina silently looked on. All three women had seen the way Arizona reacted, and they had watched her walk away. 

Cristina was pissed off at the reaction of the blonde, especially knowing that Callie was in a delicate situation right now. The Korean woman wanted to understand the thought process of one Arizona Robbins-Torres, but she really couldn't. In Cristina's mind, although that same mind was still also suffering the bad effects of trauma and possible PTSD, Arizona was taking the coward's way out with regards to a person she swore to love for the rest of her life.

Amelia was saddened by this turn of events. The younger Shepherd could definitely set aside her feelings and look at things objectively, especially since Callie was her patient at this point, but she could also sympathize with Arizona. As a neurosurgeon, she's had experience with a lot of trauma involving the brain. Retrograde amnesia wasn't a common effect of most TBIs but it does happen, rarely, but it does and it did this time. Amelia had seen families break down due to the strain of such injuries, though she silently hoped that it wouldn't be the case now. She was one of the people who waited in anxious fear for a word or any update when the plane crashed. She could never imagine what they had gone through, but it felt unfair to her that they would be experiencing more pain and trauma after.

After a few more minutes of silence, Callie's sobs slowly turned into soft sniffling until the Latina pulled back slightly from her position against Erica. "I'm sorry about breaking down. I…" the woman cut herself off. What would she say anyway? She didn't really understand the situation herself yet.

It was Amelia who answered this time. "You have nothing to apologize for, Callie. Your response is perfectly normal, given the situation. Now, I know you're confused and probably tired as well so I will keep this brief. You are suffering from retrograde amnesia. This is a side effect of your traumatic brain injury. There's bruising in your brain from a contusion you received from a heavy impact." The neurosurgeon paused as she let this sink in. They didn't need to give her every detail of what happened because it might cause too much confusion but they needed to give her something too. "You, along with Dr. Yang over here and several others were in a plane crash. You were missing for four days and when you were finally rescued, there were complications. We had to put you in a medically induced coma for a month. It has been three weeks since we eased you off of the drugs. We feared the worst when you didn't wake up immediately, but I'm personally glad that you're awake." Amelia gave Callie a small smile before she went back to doctor mode.

"Now I need to finish your neuro exam and then you can catch up with your friends. Doctor Hahn, if you wouldn't mind." When Erica moved to a chair next to the bed, Amelia proceeded to finish her assessment of Callie before declaring nothing else wrong with her brain function other than the amnesia. Now it was time to check her motor functions because Amelia had noticed that though Callie had been sitting up and moving, the lower part of her body, mainly her legs, barely moved.

Amelia turned to Cristina, leaning close to whisper, “was Callie able to move and walk around when you were in the forest?”

The Korean woman looked at Amelia and nodded. “Yes. Why?” Cristina asked, frowning.

The neurosurgeon nodded towards the orthopod’s legs, discreetly moving one of her hands to poke at Callie’s foot. The two women watched as the Latina didn’t even seem to notice the touch. Callie was currently resting back on the bed, her eyes once again closed while the blonde surgeon was now also watching the two women at the foot of Callie’s bed.

Taking a deep breath, Amelia decided to do the rest of the tests. “Alright, Callie. I’m going to test your nerve functions. I’ll be poking you with this pen and I want you to tell me if you feel anything. No need to open your eyes for this, I know you’re tired.” Getting a nod, the neurosurgeon started at Callie’s upper torso. The Latina responded positively until Amelia reached her pelvic area, right where the bruising started when they did the scans. It wasn’t all negative as there was some reflex action when she reached the toes, but no feeling response from Callie.

When all she heard were sighs and whispers from the others in the room, the Latina opened her eyes and turned her attention to her doctor. “What is it? Stop whispering with Cristina and tell me!” the Latina’s outburst visibly shook the two women, making them both jump.

“I don’t… Umm.... I’m sorry doctor Rob... Torres, but it seems that there might have been some damage to your lumbar spine. It might not have been as bad when it first happened, though something might have aggravated it. As of right now, you may not have any control or sensation on both legs.” The neurosurgeon pocketed her pen, looking nervously at the other two occupants of the room while waiting for Callie’s reaction.

“WHAT!? No…” Frantically throwing off the blanket covering her legs, Callie leaned forward and started touching her legs, and then clawing and scratching at the limbs as she felt absolutely nothing. She would have probably drawn blood with her one good hand had Erica not taken a hold of her hand and pulled her back. “Cal, stop. It’s not going to do anything, you know this.”

“No… no… no… NO! THIS CAN’T BE FUCKING HAPPENING!” The Latina was growing more and more frustrated at the situation, and with her frustration came the increase of volume in her voice.

Amelia walked over to the woman's side and attempted to lay her hand on Callie's shoulder. The ortho surgeon angrily pushed it off. "No. I want Derek Shepherd. I want the other Shepherd. GET ME DEREK FUCKING SHEPHERD NOW!"

By this time, the commotion within the room and Callie's raised voice had attracted the attention of the staff outside and the occupants of the other room. Upon hearing his name, Derek had Meredith wheel him to the other room, while a despondent Arizona stayed in the room with a still groggy Mark Sloan and a worried Lexie Grey.

"Hey, Callie. You were calling for me?" As soon as Derek spoke, everyone's attention turned to him. Callie's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she stared at Derek in a wheelchair, wearing a patient gown, an IV sticking out of one hand while the other was in an immobilizing sling.

"W-what happened to your hand?" The Latina was almost afraid of the answer. A surgeon's hands were treasured above all else, and any serious injuries involving your hand can become a one-way ticket to losing your career.

Derek gave the younger woman a sad smile. "I was in a plane crash with you and other doctors. My hand got trapped and you helped me out, I have a hand thanks to you. I'm sorry for the damage to yours though," he had an idea of what was going on based on Callie's question, and as an experienced neurosurgeon himself, he knew he needed to give as little detail as possible so as to not confuse the already confused brain of someone suffering from retrograde amnesia.

Callie swallowed thickly as Derek told her the story of his injury, and then she looked down at her heavily bandaged right hand and her immobilized left arm and shoulder. The Latina couldn’t help but break down crying once again when she looked down at herself and remembered why she was screaming for Derek just now. “I can’t feel my legs, Dr. Shepherd. I can’t… My legs…”

Derek frowned and looked up at his younger sister. “Amy, where did the sensation stop?” he inquired.

“The sensation stops completely at L4. There is reflex movement, so it might be an incomplete injury. When we conducted the initial scans for Callie, dr. Sheen did a full body X-ray, and we found a troubling dark spot at the area between L3 and L4. Cristina told me she was walking in the forest, so the injury could have been minor during the ordeal but it may have been aggravated sometime after. Did she ever lose any mobility during your time out there?” The younger Shepherd explained, looking between her older brother and her patient, who was once again being comforted by a now stone faced Erica Hahn.

Derek sighed and rubbed his eyes with his good hand. “I’m not… Meredith and Callie were looking for our medical bags on the second day, and they were gone for a while… We saw Meredith running back alone, calling for help. She said Callie collapsed and when I got there, Callie was on her back on the forest floor. We had to drag her over rocky and uneven ground. It could have aggravated her injury.” It might just be their fault that Callie had this spinal cord injury.

Behind Derek, Meredith looked uncomfortable. She seemed to be battling something before she spoke. “Callie wasn’t… I dragged her that way before I ran for help. We were on top of a steep embankment and she climbed down and climbed up with three medical bags strapped to her body. She collapsed just before she was able to pull herself fully to the top, and I had to drag her body up. I turned her over to check her breathing before I ran for help. She might have landed on rocks or… something.” The resident explained as she looked down on the floor, unable to look at her friends. After all that Amelia had said and how distraught Callie was, Meredith believed fully that the blame was solely on her shoulders and she couldn’t look at them because of it.

Callie wanted to comfort Meredith or even tell Derek that none of it was their fault except she didn’t know that because she couldn’t remember a single thing about what happened or even the events of the past four years. There was such a big gap in her memory that all the Latina could do was listen to her colleagues and watch them silently blaming themselves. She didn’t feel confident about anything she might want to say because if it is their fault? Should she be angry? Why? What happened in that accident? Callie didn’t know the answer to any of this and trying to find one just gave her a headache. The more she tried, the more frustrated she got, and the worse the headache got, though she didn’t mention anything to anyone or even showed any outward reaction to this. A headache was minor compared to what she had now.

Of all possible trauma injuries she could incur, it had to be amnesia huh? On top of a spinal injury too. How much of her memories did she lose? Now that the Latina looked at the people around her again, everyone seemed to have aged some years. Erica had more lines on her face, Cristina seemed older and without the cold robotic mannerisms that Callie remembered her having, Meredith and Derek looked older as well. “How much time did I forget? You’re all older, and this hospital looks familiar but new at the same time. I’m in Seattle Grace, aren’t I? So… Apart from the fucked up legs I have now, how much of my life did I also forget?” Callie questioned, a dark chuckle escaping her lips at her question.

“Four years. You lost four years worth of memories.” Cristina was the one who answered this time. The korean woman had stayed silent the whole time during the explanation about Callie’s injuries because she didn’t have anything to contribute, she wasn’t there when they dragged Callie back but this she could answer.

Callie turned to Erica, “and what are we?” she asked. There were a lot of things she needed to process, and the Latina often processed things out loud, that hasn’t changed. Now, she needed to know the status of her life and the people in it or the people she hoped were still in it.

Erica sighed before she answered. “The last memory you remember of me walking out was the last time we saw each other until now. I… I resigned from Seattle Grace and transferred to Mount Sinai in New York four years ago, and…” the blonde cardio surgeon placed her hand on top of Callie’s, showing a wedding ring and an engagement ring in plain view. “I’ve been married to my wife for two years now. I came to Seattle two months ago to help. I’m sorry, Cal.”

Callie let herself fall back onto the pillows behind her heavily, wincing when she felt a sharp pain. “Careful, Cal. Your surgical sites are still healing,” Erica added when she saw the wince. Amelia immediately rushed to the head of the bed to inspect Callie’s bandaged head for any bleeding. The Latina huffed in annoyance but let the other woman check her over.

Okay. Callie began to think back to what she knew now. So she lost four years worth of memories. She was in a plane crash with Derek, Cristina, and Meredith. Erica and her broke up years ago. She had been in a coma for almost two months, and…

“Who was that pretty blonde woman holding my hand when I woke up?” Callie asked the room in general, looking at everyone to gauge their reactions. Everyone looked uncomfortable all of a sudden, looking at each other but not her. This frustrated the Latina, and her patience with all this avoidance was getting thin. “I have amnesia but I’m not stupid, now who is she?” the ortho surgeon asked again, glaring at everyone around her.

Again, it was Cristina who answered. “Her name is Dr. Arizona Robbins-Torres. She’s your wife, Cal.”

As soon as the words registered in her head, Callie’s mind started racing. Arizona Robbins-Torres? Wife? Arizona? As she started to process this new bit of information, a steady throbbing presented itself and Cristina’s words were suddenly echoing in her head. One word in particular. 

“Arizona?” As soon as the name left her lips, a searing pain erupted from Callie’s head. The Latina cried out and made a grab for her head before her vision was suddenly enveloped in white and all she knew was pain, pain and the faint but frantic voices around her and then nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hides*  
> Sorry?
> 
> I will try to get the next update sooner... soonish? soon? I hope. I'm still not satisfied with it, so I'm still rewriting several things.
> 
> Until next time!  
> -Phoenixwrites


	10. The one where Arizona tells Callie a story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arizona and Callie finally have a time for themselves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. Grey's Anatomy is property of ABC and Shonda Rhimes.
> 
> Hi everyone! Here's another chapter for Lost and Found. I got a burst of inspiration, so I was able to finish this super fast. I hope you all are still with me, I know we've been in the dark and twisty for a couple of chapters now but things will start looking up bit by bit, just be patient and trust in Calzona.

#  Chapter 10: The one where Arizona tells Callie a story

Note:  _ italics mean visions/memories _

**General POV**

Callie's room was a frenzy of activity as the newly woken orthopedic surgeon suddenly went into a seizure. Erica pushed the call button while Amelia bustled around the bed. The nurses ran in, ushering the three non-practicing doctors out as they all worked to stabilize Callie.

In the other room, Arizona, Lexie, and Mark looked out at the glass door with alarm when they saw nurses rushing into the next room. The next thing they knew, three worried individuals came into their room. Arizona immediately stood up.

"What happened?" She demanded as the three other survivors piled into the room. Everyone looked grave.

It was Meredith who answered, "we were talking to Callie, answering her questions and… when she got to you, Cristina explained who you were and she started seizing after she mentioned your name."

Arizona gasped and hopped up, using her crutches to walk as fast she could to the other room, only to be stopped by Erica Hahn at the door. The taller blonde was surprisingly strong, and Arizona found herself unable to get by.

"You need to calm down. You can't help Callie if you just barge in there, you'll just be in the way. Shepherd and Koracick can handle this. You know this is a side effect of her TBI." The other blonde was calm but Arizona was far from it. 

Arizona once again tried to get past Erica. "That's my wife in there, and I need to be in there! Move!" The two blondes continued to struggle until Amelia came out and put a stop to it.

"It's okay, Dr. Hahn, Arizona. Callie's stable now but we had to sedate her again, you can come in now." With that, Erica stepped aside but not before Arizona roughly pushed her aside and hobbled over to Callie's bedside. Parking herself on the empty chair close to her wife's bed, cursing herself for leaving in the first place.

It took another day before Callie finally woke up, and Arizona stayed by her bedside the whole time. Anyone who tried to get the peds surgeon to go somewhere else to sleep got their heads bitten off. After the third crying intern, Chief Hunt just ordered another hospital bed wheeled into the room. The man could understand trauma, having his own experiences with it, but the way these survivors were treating their own colleagues was putting more grey hairs on Owen Hunt than his entire tenure as Chief of Surgery.

The next day, Arizona was woken up by a noise on the bed next to her. Realizing that it was her wife waking up, the blonde was up and out of bed in a flash. Unlike last time, though, she refrained from touching the Latina.

**Callie POV**

Callie groaned softly as she woke up. Once again her whole body felt sore and she felt completely tired even though she was just waking up. Slowly, the Latina opened her eyes and squinted at the bright lights of the hospital room. Her memory felt fuzzy for a few seconds as she tried to remember why she was in a hospital bed, and then the events of yesterday came back to her as well as some sort of memory.

_ Deep dimples, ocean blue eyes, and a flash of curly blonde hair against Joe's dirty bar bathroom as she dried her eyes in front of the mirror... _

_ "Wanna give me some names?" _

_ Pink lips that feel so soft against hers... _

_ "I think you'll know" _

The Latina frowned as she tried to remember more of that short flash of memory. When did that happen? The memory evoked a nice warmth in her chest, and it made her smile as she recalled the feel of soft pink lips against hers and the deep dimpled smile coupled by those eyes framed by delicate blonde curls. She didn't know everything about that memory but it made her so happy.

Still smiling, Callie turned to her right where brown eyes met ocean blue and something clicked. "You kissed me in Joe's bathroom." It wasn't a question, just a statement.

The smile that met her was soft but her eyes conveyed nothing but love and hope. "Yes, Calliope. That was the first time we officially met. I've only been in Seattle for a couple of months at that time." Arizona explained.

"So it wasn't a crazy dream. Wow. You kiss strangers in dirty bar bathrooms often?" Callie couldn't help but give the blonde a teasing smile.

Arizona laughed, her first real laugh since the plane crash, not that Callie knew that. "No. Just the woman who would become my wife." 

The two of them shared soft smiles before Callie leaned back on her pillows again. The Latina was quiet for a while, just staring at the white hospital ceiling. “So we’re really married huh?” she finally asked, turning her head to look at the blonde sitting on the chair beside her with a contemplative look on her face. Arizona nodded, still smiling supportively for her wife.

A pale hand reached over but stopped just before they reached a tan hand, resting on top of the sheets just a few inches shy of Callie’s hand. The orthopod studied the delicate hand next to hers, noting the light tan line on her ring finger but no ring. "Where's your ring? Come to think of it, where's my ring?" Callie looked up at Arizona's face.

"I have them both right here, and your necklace too." Arizona pulled on the two chains around her neck, pulling two heart necklaces with two rings each on the chain. "The silver one is yours, and the gold is mine. I wore them both around my neck this whole time so we don't lose them and…" the blonde hesitated for a moment before she spoke again, "and because while you were unconscious or in surgery, having them close to my heart, it felt like you were still with me. You always made me feel safe and loved, and having these necklaces and our rings close to my heart at least gave me some of that."

Callie could see Arizona's eyes start to water and her bottom lip had started trembling as well but the blonde was trying to keep herself from crying. It broke the Latina's heart to see how much this trauma had affected her, and even if she didn't remember her, Callie hoped she was doing the right thing by reaching over and cupping the woman's cheek. "I'm sorry for what this has done to you, and I'm also sorry that I don't remember you."

Arizona shook her head briefly before leaning into the soft touch on her cheek. "I was so scared that I would lose you, Calliope, and I'm so glad that you're alive and awake. You don't have to apologize for suffering amnesia, I'm just so happy that you're here and talking to me. I love you so much, and I know you don't remember me but I will never leave your side. I will be here for you until you remember, and even if you don't I would never leave your side. You're stuck with me forever, Calliope."

Callie smiled at the sincerity and conviction she heard from the woman's voice. This woman named Arizona who was apparently her wife, a practical stranger who just vowed to not leave her side. It made Callie happy and sad at the same time because she couldn't remember any of this. All she could recall were the tragic relationships she had, the mistakes and the fights, and the people who chipped away at her self-esteem. Callie slowly dropped her hand, already missing the warmth of the pale flesh that she had just been caressing. "I know I have amnesia and you can't give me a lot of details but can you tell me if I was able to walk tall when we met? Were we happy? How did I not fuck up this marriage?" There was a hint of shyness, a vulnerability in Callie that few people had been privy to see as she asked these questions.

This time, Arizona did grasp Callie's hand and the Latina didn't pull away. The touch felt familiar and new at the same time, and that simple gesture also served to comfort her. "I came to Seattle a month after Erica Hahn left, and we never really crossed paths because peds and ortho rarely did but I had been hearing all about you from our coworkers." Arizona kept her eyes on their joined hands, her thumb gently stroking tan skin. 

"I kept hearing about the legend of this amazing orthopedic goddess who basically ran the whole ortho wing as a resident. Apparently, if you wanted the best in ortho, you went to dr. Torres, a senior resident, instead of the attendings, and we were advised to never let the head of ortho on a case. Nurses would be fawning over you, saying how beautiful and confident you were in the OR. And they were worried about you because Erica Hahn had basically left without a word, and then there were some who were planning to ask you out. I didn't know who you were or what you looked like yet but the way everyone talked about you intrigued me, and I found myself listening in every time someone mentioned your name." The blonde chuckled as she remembered her first few months in Seattle.

"And then the first time I actually saw you, you were performing what felt like a miracle in the OR. A young man came into the hospital from a motorcycle accident. His legs and his arm were so badly broken, any other orthopedic surgeon wouldn't have been able to save it. You did it, though. You spent hours carefully putting that young man back together, and what you couldn't salvage, you carved out of titanium. I spent the rest of my shift and the hours after that in the gallery, watching you do what you do best, and then understood why people respected and loved you in our hospital. I think I subconsciously started falling for you after that." Another chuckle but this time, there was also an accompanying blush. Callie found this adorable, though she was also surprised to hear about her surgeries and skills from other people's perspectives.

**\---four years ago(Arizona POV)---**

_ The blonde peds surgeon couldn't tear her eyes away from the ortho resident that she had been hearing about for months now. Arizona always thought that the gossip was just exaggerated because no one was that talented or perfect, she was glad to be proven wrong in this instance though. _

_ The confidence, determination, and finesse of this woman in a branch of medicine that people, including herself, have looked down upon were breathtaking. In the past, Arizona wouldn't even watch an orthopedic surgery but she found herself unable to leave or even tear her eyes away from the orthopedic goddess working her magic down below. _

_ She didn't know how long she stayed in the gallery just watching the surgery or the surgeon herself but before she knew it, several hours had gone by without her pager sounding. The next thing Arizona knew, the ortho resident was backing away from the table and glancing up at the gallery. The blonde's breath hitched as the richest pools of brown, almost like melted chocolate, met hers for what felt like forever but was really only a few seconds, and then she was gone and a part of Arizona went with her. _

_ From that day forward, the blonde peds surgeon found herself interested in ortho and the resident who apparently ran it herself. And with her interest peaked, Arizona found herself listening to everything related to Callie Torres, eventually finding out that her full name was Calliope Torres, and what a perfectly fitting name it was when she’d finally seen her first real glimpse of the orthopedic goddess herself one day when they’ve both walked out of an OR across from each other and an intern had called Callie’s name. _

_ After that, Arizona couldn’t get the Latina out of her head anymore. She resolved to find a way to meet her, and it annoyed the blonde how little ortho cases her department actually had though she only half meant that because who wishes to see little kids with broken bones? _

_ Her opportunity to finally talk to Callie came in the form of one fateful night at Joe’s. She had been on a date at that time. One of her many conquests before Calliope Torres, though she considered making that one her last when she’d instinctively followed the upset Latina into the bathroom and kissed her. _

**_\----End of Flashback----_ **

Callie laughed when Arizona finished her recollection. “Seriously? Wow, I must have had some sort of great impression on you if me in a surgical gown, a scrub cap, and a mask with only my eyes visible could have that effect on you.”

Arizona smiled at her wife softly. "You were everything. Even before I knew it, you were everything. When we finally got together, everything just clicked. You are everything, and you're it for me, Calliope." Callie stopped laughing and her expression turned shy. No one ever spoke to her with the level of fondness and love that the woman beside her did, it made the Latina happy and shy at the same time. 

This level of love and devotion that Arizona was showing her was something she'd never actually thought she would have in life. No one had spoken to her like this, no one had spoken about her like Arizona did. Not George, not Erica. This woman beside her obviously loved her so much, yet she couldn't remember how it all started, couldn't remember any of it save for that one sliver of a broken memory. The thought wiped the smile off of Callie's face, and Arizona was quick to notice the change in her wife.

"Hey. It's okay. So you don't remember, it's alright. I'll remember for both of us, and if it doesn't work," a pale hand lifted Callie's chin until brown met blue. "If you still don't remember our love, then I'll start at the beginning and woo you until you fall in love with me again and agree to marry me, again."

Tears welled up in Callie's eyes at Arizona's words. This woman loved her so much, and she could see it, she could hear it, she could feel it with every touch and it frustrated her that her brain had gone through such a trauma that she couldn't remember loving this woman back. "It's not fair to you. I don't remember you, and I am supposed to be in love with you. I'm supposed to be your wife, and I'm supposed to be loving you, caring for you, supporting you, and protecting you. Why did I have to forget you?" When the tears finally spilled over, the Latina averted her eyes, unable to stand to see pain or heartbreak in those blue eyes.

To her surprise, she heard the bed rail that was between them get lowered and petite arms wrapped around her as Arizona had scooted closer to her. As warm arms enveloped her in a loving embrace, Callie broke down and cried against the shoulder of the woman she couldn't remember but desperately wanted to. Because even when her brain couldn't remember, her heart and her body did, and she could feel herself relax into the embrace and let go. The small arms and the warm body next to her felt safe, she felt protected in them. Being in Arizona's arms felt like home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Arizona is finally channeling her speechy powers! I wanted to give them a more detailed past than what the show originally aired. I wanted to show how Callie first came into Arizona's radar during her time in Seattle Grace, and I believe this would be a good way to show it.
> 
> But also... Aren't they cute?
> 
> Tell me what you think everyone!  
> -Phoenixwrites
> 
> P.S. Quick Edit A/N: A lovely guest had pointed out to me that the necklace colors were wrong. Arizona owns the gold necklace and the silver one is Callie's so I've edited that


	11. The one where some surprises are revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For all of my loyal readers and those who have given me kudos, THANK YOU!
> 
> I hope you enjoy this next chapter because there will be a lot more cuteness in here and SOFIA ROBBIN SLOAN-TORRES! 
> 
> I don't know about ya'll but I love Calzona's baby.
> 
> Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing. Grey's Anatomy and all its characters are the property of ABC and Shonda Rhimes. I'm just here to play and live out my fandom dreams.

**Chapter 11: The one where some surprises are revealed**

**Callie POV**

After the emotional outburst about her frustration over her amnesia, Callie and Arizona decided to talk about the times before they met, ignoring the topic of recent memories for now. Arizona did not want to overwhelm or confuse Callie with too many recollections, it could set her back or confuse her when or if the Latina would ever start remembering. Arizona was still sitting on Callie's bed next to her, enjoying the closeness and the fact that the Latina had not pushed her away like last time.

It was just after lunchtime, and the two of them had shared awful hospital food while entertaining each other about med school stories. "I'm being totally serious here, that was the only time I've ever seen a man's… thing." Arizona scrunched her face in disgust at the memory of that one time in her gross anatomy class.

Callie laughed out loud at that. "Really, Arizona? You're a grown woman and you can't say penis?" The Latina teased, poking fun at her partner's inability to even name the male reproductive anatomy.

Arizona pouted, swatting at her wife playfully. "I have no desire at all to get near a living and functional one, thank you very much. I'm proud of my gold star!" The blonde declared, still pouting and narrowing her eyes as Callie continued to laugh.

"You're cute when you're mad," the orthopod pointed out. This caused heat to rise quickly to Arizona's cheeks, coloring her face with a deep blush. "I'm awesome! And you like to tease me, so that means…" whatever Arizona was about to say was abruptly cut off when the sliding door of their room was suddenly thrown open.

Arizona suddenly found herself with an armful of sobbing momma Robbins, while the Colonel stood just inside the doorway. "Momma? What are you doing here? Dad?" The blonde surgeon questioned as she awkwardly patted her crying mother's back.

Beside her on the bed, an equally confused Callie just looked on. These people were virtual strangers to her, but apparently, they were her wife's parents, a wife she still pretty much did not remember much of so the ortho surgeon just stayed quiet, not really knowing what to say.

"Arizona Michelle Robbins-Torres! We had to find out from the news that you had an accident and that's how you greet your mother? I've been worried sick ever since we heard what happened! Did you even plan to call your poor old parents that you and Callie were in a plane crash?" Barbara Robbins could talk. She rambled, actually. And if Callie could remember her wife and her life four years ago, she would have found it as amusing as she did when she first realized this inherited trait between mother and daughter.

Callie didn't remember them but seeing the worried mother hen fussing over a flustered and chastised-looking Arizona did make her smile, and she missed her mother as well. "Mom! We're okay. I'm sorry that I didn't call you. I really am. My plate was pretty full with my wife being in a coma, and my own injuries, mom. I'm sorry for not calling you and dad." The younger woman apologized.

"How were you able to get a flight over here, anyway? Do you need a place to stay? I can give you the keys to the apartment." Barbara waved all the questions off, sitting on the edge of the other bed after finally releasing Arizona.

"It's alright, honey. Carlos contacted us, and he picked us up with their jet. He's here, but he said he wanted to visit with Sofia first. Oh, Arizona. Your daughter has grown so much! She looks so much like Callie even more now but she definitely has the Robbins dimples. Oh my goodness…"

Callie tilted her head to the side. Did that woman just say that they had a daughter? They had a daughter named Sofia? What? The Latina couldn't wrap her confused mind around this new tidbit of information. All she could remember about the talk of children was wanting to have a child with George before they broke up, and then the talk didn't even come up with Erica. Apparently, they were parents. She was a parent. A mother. Seriously? Callie Torres, who could only remember being a fifth-year orthopedic resident and couldn't even remember the woman she married, had also apparently forgotten about her child.

Everyone turning their attention to her made Callie realize that she'd spoken out loud. The Latina froze and turned to her 'wife' with a pleading look; she didn't do well with having a spotlight on her, even if it's just her in-laws. In-laws she couldn't even put a name to. Arizona nodded and spoke for her. "Momma, Daddy. The reason why I haven't been able to give you guys a call at all is that when we arrived here, Callie needed brain surgery and she was put under a medically induced coma for a month. Unfortunately, it took another three weeks before she woke up and when she did…" The blonde reached over and grasped Callie's hand for support. "When Callie woke up, the trauma to her brain caused her to have what we hope is temporary retrograde amnesia. She can't remember the last four years before she woke up."

The silence in the room was deafening as both Robbins parents processed the information they were just given. Unknown to the four companions, someone had also heard the explanation from the door. "Calliope has amnesia!?" The outburst from the door startled everyone, making them all jump and turn their attention to the door.

There was Carlos Torres, a look of shock on his face as he distractedly tried to soothe the crying baby in his arms. Poor little Sofia had been shocked by the loud voice that her grandfather had used when he spoke, and the little girl cried in reaction. Instinctively, Arizona reached out. "Give her to me please, Carlos."

The man nodded and walked over to the blonde but Sofia had other plans. The little girl had not seen her Mami in a long time, and when little Sofia saw her Mami watching her, she immediately reached out for her. "Mami!" Callie just gave the little girl a frightened look as she once again turned to her wife, Arizona, the only familiar one in the whole room.

Seeing the fear in the Latina's eyes, Arizona took the fussing baby into her arms instead. "I'm sorry, baby, Mami isn't feeling good right now. Come on, Sof. You love cuddling with Mama, right?" The blonde cooed but the little girl refused to back down. Sofia had, without a doubt, inherited her birth mother's fiery temper and stubbornness. Instead of calming down once she was in her mama's arms, the little one-year-old baby girl cried harder and squirmed to reach her Mami on the other side of the bed.

Callie's heart broke to see this child, this beautiful little girl who was supposed to be her baby, crying out and reaching for her. Sofia's little face was scrunched up, tear-stained, and red from crying. Her little body was still struggling to reach for Callie, and Arizona was having a hard time holding her now. Making up her mind, the Latina reached out for the little girl. "Give her to me, Arizona. Come here, sweetie." The blonde looked uneasy for a second, knowing that the Latina was probably overwhelmed but her big heart couldn't stand to see the baby crying. Reluctantly, Arizona passed Sofia into Callie's arm, making sure that the Latina had a good grip with her one good arm before she let go. It didn't seem like Sofia was going to fall because the child had wrapped her little arms tight around Callie's neck as soon as she could reach it.

Still, she had a hand on Sofia's back as she scooted closer on the bed and helped Callie lean back into the pillows and into a comfortable position so she could support Sofia with one arm. Once they were situated, the little girl finally calmed down, only the occasional sniffles and muffled murmurs of "Mami" could be heard from her as she snuggled deeper into her amnesiac mother's embrace.

With the situation of Sofia's tantrum soothed, Arizona relaxed but she kept herself close to Callie so she could help if she was needed. As if by muscle memory, the Latina positioned herself so that she could run her hand in soothing circles over the baby's back, a motion that Arizona had seen Callie do every single time their baby was upset and wanted the comfort of her Mami. Arizona herself had her own practiced motions when soothing Sofia, and it warmed her heart and sparked hope in her that maybe her wife would come back to her someday, that Callie would remember her, remember them, again.

"Arizona, is this true? Is our Calliope suffering from amnesia?" Carlos' much softer voice broke the spell of silence that had enveloped the room a few minutes later. Arizona had been so focused on her family, watching her wife soothe their baby girl, that she had completely forgotten for a moment that they were not alone.

Both Arizona and Callie turned their attention back to Carlos, the Latina still soothing the now asleep baby, the child's even breathing warming Callie's neck, though Sofia's grip had slipped from her neck, little hands had found purchase on her hospital gown; thin cloth gripped tightly in balled fists as if Sofia was afraid her mother would disappear if she didn't hold on even in sleep.

"Yes, sir… I mean Carlos, Callie has what we hope is temporary retrograde amnesia. She lost her memory of the past four years." Arizona answered, her gaze falling down to her lap. Like her father, Carlos Torres was a very intimidating man, and Arizona found her authority issues rearing its ugly head along with a healthy dose of fear as she felt her eyes sting with tears. Carlos may be her father-in-law but in her eyes, she had failed to protect Calliope from this, even though there was nothing she could have possibly done because the blonde was hurt badly during the crash too.

Carlos sighed and ran his hand over his balding head. Callie watched her father walk to the other side of her bed and sit down, his eyes clouded by worry. "Oh Mija, you were finally happy. The happiest you've ever been, I am so sorry for what happened. We will make these airline people pay, I promise." A promise from Carlos Torres was not something you would take lightly, and his daughter knew that.

Callie wanted to end the discussion there but she knew she needed to tell her father everything, every single injury she currently had, especially the one that would potentially change the way she lived now. "Daddy… the amnesia isn't the only thing. I-I also… umm… apparently, after the crash… I have… I have another injury, daddy. I can't feel anything below my abdomen." The Latina stuttered through her words as she explained.

The horrified gasps of everyone, including Arizona, and the look of utter devastation on her father's face made tears well up in Callie's eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" Hurt was written all over Arizona's face along with worry and fear.

The Latina sighed, "I'm sorry, Arizona. You weren't in the room and I was feeling really overwhelmed and then apparently I had a seizure. I just… everything feels so weird and I feel lost and overwhelmed and I don't know." The Latina kept rubbing the now sleeping Sofia's back as she squirmed a bit under everyone's gaze, looking down on the bed.

"I… I also thought… I'm broken, too broken. I can't even remember you, you have no reason to stay with someone defective." Callie turned her face towards Sofia, closing her eyes and inhaling the unique scent of a clean baby. It helped calm the Latina's anxiety a bit but it was still there, and she was still tense when a soft hand was laid on top of hers that was holding Sofia. The Latina tensed even more, preparing herself for Arizona's response. She still can't remember whatever they have had but it made her heart hurt to think that this wonderful, beautiful human could possibly utter words that could break her. Callie had offered her an out but a part of the orthopod was still hoping that the blonde wouldn't leave because right now, through all of this, she knew that Arizona could be her rock, her stability in this world that she couldn't remember right now. Living a life she couldn't remember would be hard for her, even harder with a young child dependent on you, but there was a part of Callie telling her that if she lost this, lost the little girl sleeping on her or the beautiful blonde lying next to her, there would be no reason for her to stay in this world. In this world where the most consistent thing she's had so far is the presence of this woman, even though they've only really bonded for a few hours, part of Callie could still feel a longing and a connection with this woman.

Arizona's hand gently squeezed Callie's, prompting the Latina to look up. The blonde's expression was sad but she couldn't see any rejection coming from Arizona. "The whole time we had been together, through everything, you have never left my side." Callie could see through the sad smile, that there was also love and nothing else in Arizona's eyes so she listened to the blonde. "Throughout our relationship, I was always running. I bail when things get hard, and I make stupid, irrational decisions and I realize things too late but this… loving you? It's the easiest and hardest thing I have ever done and will continue to do."

Callie tilted her head a bit, confused by the blonde's start. What was Arizona trying to say? Was this just a long-winded rejection? Something? It sounded contradictory. Easy yet hard? "What?"

Arizona laughed softly. It was always Callie's go-to word, her signature reaction to almost everything. "Listen to me, Calliope. Loving you is easy because loving you is like breathing, it's something I need for me to be alive and it's also something I do without even having to think about it. I can have the worst day a pediatric surgeon can have and all you have to do is smile and the world feels right again. I feel safest in your arms, I feel like I can do anything as long as you're right next to me, and I can live without you but I don't want to. Loving you is easy in the sense that I feel that I was made for you and you were made for me, and I will always choose to love you through everything, good or bad, sickness and health, celebration and tragedy, over never having you in my life."

Tears instantly welled up in Callie's eyes as she heard those sincere words from Arizona. The Latina watched as this woman, this beautiful, wonderful, miraculous woman next to her just delivered the perfect speech. This love that Arizona was describing was something you only find in dreams or fairy tales or for other people. It was something Callie had once dreamed about having with someone, something she had once hoped she had with George or even with Erica but here was Arizona, a woman Callie couldn't even remember, saying the perfect words with a loving smile that she somehow knew was reserved only for her.

But Arizona wasn't finished. "Loving you is also difficult because you scare me, Calliope. Loving you scares me because there is this perfect person right here who has given me nothing but devotion, pure love, and absolute protection. I'm scared because you're so brave, and bold with your love for me that sometimes I feel like I don't deserve it. I'm scared because I almost lost you, and in the past four years, I don't know how to live in a world where my Calliope doesn't exist anymore. You also infuriate me with how stubborn, loyal, and brave you are. You make me feel so safe because of it but I hate how you always put yourself between us and danger, how you take a leap and not even think twice just so you can protect us or save a life."

Arizona cupped Callie's cheek this time. "What I'm saying is, I am never leaving your side again, ever. You haven't left my side through all of it, and you've done so much for us, so much that I hope you one day remember again. I will never leave your side, Calliope. You are not broken, you're not defective. You are the love of my life, my other half, my brave, stubborn, beautiful, smart, and talented wife. The mother of my child, and I love you. Don't ever call yourself defective again or I will kick the crap out of you." The last part was said in jest but the sentiment was felt. Callie smiled at Arizona, feeling loved and absolutely cared for and safe after that long speech.

"I… I don't know what to say but thank you for loving me, Arizona. Thank you, and I hope that one day I can remember everything because I want to remember you. The way you talked just now, I've always… I've only ever dreamt of something like this, and now that it's here I can't… I don't want to just forget it. I want to remember because you deserve to be loved just as fiercely." Callie delivered her own speech, albeit shorter and stuttered as tears finally fell down her cheeks because of the loving look and the speech that her wife had just delivered.

For the rest of the day, the gathered family talked and Arizona apologized to her parents and to Carlos for not calling. Callie was just content to lay down with Sofia, the little girl not even stirring as the adults in the room continued to talk and catch up, though they did stay on safer topics that wouldn't leave the Latina out so most of the conversation was about more reminiscing about med school and internships and residencies. Much to Callie's and Arizona's shame, their parents started exchanging high school and childhood memories of them. This went on until visiting hours were over. Arizona had convinced Barbara and Daniel to stay in their apartment for the time being while Carlos would stay in the Archfield. Instead of going home with Meredith, Sofia would be spending the night in her own bed for the first time in months. Soon enough, the two surgeons were left alone.

The two stayed quiet for a while, Arizona probably waiting for Callie to speak first but the Latina didn't really know what to say. After a few more minutes of silence, Callie yawned and Arizona made to move back to her own bed but a hand on her arm stopped her. "Can you stay? Just until I fall asleep?" Brown eyes pleaded with blue. Arizona nodded and let the Latina pull them both down in a comfortable position. Callie lay her head against Arizona's shoulder and her good hand found a place on the blonde's waist.

"Is this okay?" Callie's soft voice whispered against Arizona's skin, causing the blonde to shiver as she nodded. "Of course. I waited two months for this." The blonde wrapped her own arm around the Latina's waist, pulling her closer, the two of them now snuggling closer to each other in a hold that felt new and familiar at the same time. Callie decided she liked sleeping like this, it felt safe and warm and very comfortable. The tired orthopod finally closed her eyes and let sleep claim her as she basked in the warmth and safety of being in Arizona's arms. As soon as Callie's breath evened out in sleep, Arizona's own exhaustion caught up with her and she fell asleep snuggled against her wife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So... What did you all think? Arizona is really pulling out all the stops for Callie here, and I'm loving these cute calzona moments. They're a good break from all the dark and twisty stuff, right? AND SOFIA IS SO ADORABLE!
> 
> Anywho, talk to me in the comments! I read all of them and I make sure to reply and I even consider suggestions for my story. I value my reviewers! you all give me life and motivation to keep writing. THANK YOU!
> 
> -Phoenixwrites


	12. The one where everyone just wants to take a break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm sorry I disappeared there for a bit. Life got in the way, and then life decided my 2021 needed to start with sickness. I was sick, and I'm still sick but I'm getting better. I finally am able to look at a computer screen without hurling my guts out so I could churn out this massive update!
> 
> Disclaimer: We all know the drill. ABC and Shonda Rhimes own Grey's Anatomy and all its characters, I'm just borrowing and playing with them.

#  Chapter 12: The one where everyone just wants to take a break

The next morning, Callie wakes up to something softly gliding over her face. After a few seconds, she realized it was a finger. The Latina opened her eyes to see Arizona watching her with a soft smile, and her hand moved from tracing her face to cupping her cheek. "Good morning, pretty lady. I always loved how you smile in your sleep and before you wake up."

Callie could feel her smile getting wider at that. "Good morning, Arizona. I think I just had the best sleep in forever," a tan arm pulled Arizona closer, "you're warm and comfy." To emphasize this, Callie nuzzled her face against the blonde's neck, sighing in contentment. She could definitely get used to waking up like this every day, and she guessed that maybe she did this for the past four years, not that she could remember them but their position felt familiar and very comfortable.

Arizona giggled, the vibrations of her laughter from her chest sent a pleasant sensation all over Callie. "You always loved being held when you're sick, you say it makes you feel safe. I feel the same way whenever you hold me when we sleep, you're usually the big spoon and your arms wrapped around me always made me feel like nothing could ever touch me when I'm in them." The blonde held Callie a little tighter as she explained this, and it caused the Latina to nuzzle her face even more against her neck. It almost felt normal to Callie, this intimate act with the blonde. It felt right, and so natural how well their bodies fit with each other. The Latina didn't want to admit it out loud yet but even if she never would be able to remember her past or her history with this woman, the way they were now, it wouldn't be hard at all to fall in love with her again. The two women let the comforting silence envelop them, neither willing to part or disturb the bubble they were in right now. To Arizona, this was exactly what she needed after suffering two months of uncertainty and fear for her wife's life. To Callie, this was exactly the comfort she needed after waking up to a world she couldn't remember. Both women stayed in their embrace, falling almost half asleep before the door opened and Amelia Shepherd walked in with two other doctors.

"Good morning, Drs. Robbins-Torres. Looks like we're all in a good mood right now." Amelia greeted, smiling warmly at the two women sharing a bed. It wasn't protocol but the chief had warned them all about the survivors' volatile moods, especially those with their partners. Seattle Grace Mercy West was being as lenient as possible to keep them all in good spirits, especially the two couples here in the ICU. Arizona pulled away but still kept her arms around Callie, who had also turned her attention to the others but didn't really feel inclined to separate with the warmth of her blonde companion. The Latina only moved her head so she was facing the doctors but still rested it against Arizona's shoulder, her arm tightening a bit around the blonde's waist. Ever since she woke up, she had only ever been introduced to Amelia Shepherd. She didn't know who these other doctors were, and it was making her nervous. As if sensing the change in Callie, Arizona's hand automatically started rubbing comfortably over her good arm, the other between them still in an immobilizing sling.

"Callie, these are Drs. Arthur Sheen and Tom Koracick. Dr. Sheen is an orthopedic surgeon on loan from the Harper Avery Foundation. Dr. Koracick is my mentor from Johns Hopkins. We're here to do another assessment of your injuries and discuss treatment plans with you." Amelia explained, giving the Latina an encouraging smile.

"Dr. Torres, I will need to check on your hand function and your shoulder, and then we'll go from there. May I?" Sheen started moving towards Callie's side of the bed and the Latina turned towards Arizona, the only one in the room she really trusted right now, silently asking a question. Arizona's encouraging smile and nod finally got Callie to let go of her, albeit reluctantly and presented her bandaged hand towards the older man. Dr. Sheen smiled kindly at her before he started unwrapping the dressing to check on the stitches. This would also be the first time that both Arizona and Callie would see the state of her hand, so both women watched the bandages and gauze be slowly peeled away to reveal Callie's hand. 

To the untrained eye, it looked bad, really bad, because a good chunk of flesh and muscle had been carved out due to the deep infection. It looked like there was a fairly deep trench inside Callie's palm right now but the surgical site was mostly healed and the stitches could be removed now. To Callie and Dr. Sheen, the trained orthopedic surgeons in the room, this was probably the best outcome for a hand surgery that could be done. By the looks of it, the Latina could assume that her hand infection had been really bad and probably went untreated for days before it was finally operated on. Without the orthopod's prompting, Callie started slowly flexing her hand. It was slow going, and her fingers almost refused to flex but she can definitely feel it as she slowly laid her hand palm down on the bed rail and over the sheets. Callie extended her hand again towards Dr. Sheen and the man started poking at her hand, testing sensitivity. To all of it, the Latina answered positively. "Well it seems like we were able to retain your hand function, and whatever you're having difficulty with can be retrained in physical therapy. You still have your scalpel hand, Callie. Now let's move on to your proximal humerus fracture. It was a clean break so we didn't need to use metal or screws but it also needed a long time to heal, so you've been in a sling since we operated. We're going to need another X-ray of your shoulder to see how it's healing and we'll go from there." Callie nodded as Dr. Sheen finished his explanation. That was understandable, and those seemed to be her most minor injuries.

Turning towards the two neurosurgeons, Callie asked "are we getting scans of my lumbar spine today?" Dr. Koracick raised his eyebrows, surprised, and mildly impressed. The man followed the Harper Avery awards news, and from what he had gathered, this young woman in front of him was a front runner for this year's award. "You're definitely smart for someone with a lot of your training lost to amnesia, Dr. Robbins-Torres. Should I call you just Dr. Torres again? Cuz I'm sure you don't remember being married to Rainbow Robbins either, what year of medical training did your brain regress to?" The man asked, all manner of tact and sensitivity thrown out the window as soon as he spoke.

Callie frowned at the man, she definitely didn't like him right now. "Wow, an arrogant neurosurgeon. I'm not surprised nor intimidated, Dr. Ass. As far as I can remember right now, I'm in the middle of my fifth-year residency, and to my knowledge, I made a man who is supposed to be paralyzed from the neck down walk again just last month. This is all after Dr. Derek Shepherd claimed it was impossible. My mental faculties are missing chunks of memory but I'm still fine as a doctor." Amelia and Arizona outright laughed at the expression on their former mentor's face, while Dr. Sheen had the good sense to hide his laughter with coughs. Callie, on the other hand, was smirking at the stupefied look on the man's face.

Recovering after a few seconds, Dr. Koracick frowned. "But that's medically impossible. If you've done it four years ago, then why wasn't it published anywhere within the last four years as a viable treatment for spinal cord injuries?" He questioned. Callie shrugged, "I never published that one." She didn't offer any more explanation for it because that was the time that she was having problems with her conflicting feelings for Erica and constantly seeking advice and sleeping with Mark Sloan. It wasn't a good time in her life.

"Can you help us try to get Lexie Grey to walk?" Amelia suddenly asked. Callie turned to Amelia, "what? What happened to little Grey?" The orthopedic surgeon looked around, waiting for someone to answer her. Arizona, sensing that her wife was starting to get worked up again, started rubbing soothing circles on Callie's back, hoping it calmed down the Latina before anything happened to her. The seizure was still very much fresh in Arizona's mind, and she had an idea that it was probably due to the Latina becoming overwhelmed.

It was Dr. Arthur Sheen who answered her. "Dr. Grey suffered a severe crush injury from the accident. I was able to repair and stabilize her pelvis but her lumbar spine suffered significantly, and I had to amputate one of her legs. L4 and L3 were damaged the most and there's compression due to a blood clot." Callie frowned as the older orthopod explained this all to her. It sounded serious but not impossible, her regenerative hypothermia method could possibly help as long as the two neurosurgeons can do a flawless operation. "I need to see updated scans of Lexie's spine, and I need to see her legs, well… leg. I don't know how my hypothermia research can help in this case but we can try. Also… I want to see the scans of my own spine when we have them today."

"You're not a doctor today, Dr. Torres. You're a patient, a patient with possible paralysis and amnesia, I can't show you your own scans," Arthur Sheen protested, earning himself a glare from Callie. Amelia and Tom stayed silent, both contemplative of this mysterious regenerative hypothermia method. If what Callie said was true, then they could try it. They would need to talk to someone who witnessed the whole thing, though. Callie had just opened her mouth to argue with the other orthopod but Amelia interrupted. "Callie, who oversaw this hypothermic procedure with you?" She asked.

Distracted, Callie turned her attention to Amelia. "Chief Webber, Bailey, and Erica. The chief and Bailey helped me set everything up, and Erica pretty much encouraged me to keep going when I was losing my nerves halfway through it but more than that, the procedure involves the use of cardio instruments, ECMO to be exact, so we would need a cardio specialist to oversee the whole thing and there's a risk of heart failure if the timing is off once the patient reaches a certain threshold and starts having arrhythmias." The Latina explained everything easily, something she probably would be having more difficulty doing if she still had four more years of memories to bury those under. For now, as her mind is still of her fifth year in residency, Callie could remember all of it. She would definitely need to take note of this somewhere, it was a brilliant procedure.

From beside Callie, Arizona watched captivated as she witnessed her wife's genius once again. This Callie, in memory, was only a fifth-year resident yet her innovations were clearly ahead of her time or her peers at the level of a resident. No wonder Callie Torres was already a legend when she'd first gotten to Seattle. As it turned out, club foot kid wasn't Callie's only innovation as a resident, Arizona vaguely wondered why her wife never published this procedure at all to the medical journals. If she had, maybe Arizona would be married to a Harper Avery winner already. Giving her wife a dimpled smile, the blonde leaned over and kissed Callie's cheek. "My wife is definitely a genius," she remarked.

This caused the Latina to blush and look to Arizona, breaking whatever medical talk was happening just now. Once brown eyes met ocean blue, the world around them melted away and Callie found herself enveloped in the warmth and love she found in Arizona's eyes. "Well, sparkles, I wouldn't go as far as a genius but your wife definitely has interesting thought processes. We should get her up to CT and x-ray now. I want to talk more about this procedure with you, Dr. Torres." Tom broke the spell of the two women, earning himself a glare from the blonde, which he ignored.

"It's Dr. Robbins-Torres, and stop calling Arizona names. It's incredibly rude and puts your emotional maturity at the same level as the kids she works with." Callie was quick to snap at the man, having gotten enough of all the names this Tom Koracick fellow kept calling her wife. Not that the Latina would be saying it out loud for a while but her mind was starting to accept this whole having a wife thing, especially with how comfortable she had been in the blonde's arms when she woke up. Her head was still trying to wrap itself around it, but calling Arizona her wife in her head felt right, even if it's just in her head right now.

Tom shrugged and put his hands up, "geez. Fine. I see that I'm not wanted but I'm definitely still intrigued about this hypothermic method, I'll see you down in CT." With that, the arrogant neurosurgeon walked out of the room. Arizona and Amelia shared an amused look before the blonde kissed Callie's cheek once again. "My wife, always ready to defend my honor. You know that's one of the many reasons I love you?" This caused a deeper blush to appear on the Latina's cheeks, and she mumbled something unintelligible while giving Arizona a smile.

Callie spent the rest of the morning going from one scan room to the next and staying even longer to consult on Lexie Grey's scans as well as her own. Much to the chagrin of the orthopedic surgeon assigned to both cases, Callie pretty much took over on the consults even though she was only supposed to be a patient. Her shoulder fracture was completely healed now, so she didn't need the immobilizing sling anymore. That meant a physical therapist would be working with her every day in her room, seeing as she couldn't really go anywhere yet, to help with her hand and shoulder. Tom and Amelia would be talking to her again in the next few days regarding her and Lexie's surgeries as soon as they both had a plan.

It was already past lunch when Callie was returned to the room, and a clearly panicking Arizona had only been able to breathe better when she saw her wife getting wheeled into the room once again. As soon as Callie was situated on her bed, Arizona had immediately moved back to her position right beside the Latina. Meredith and Sofia were there when Callie returned. "Hi Meredith, hi Sofia. Are you alright, Arizona?" Callie greeted the two newcomers and asked her wife a question at the same time. Arizona smiled and kissed her wife's cheek, causing Callie to blush and smile. "I'm better now that you're here."

Meredith smiled and handed over the fussy little girl already reaching out for her Latina mother before she spoke. "I heard you had a plan to help my sister, and I brought you lunch and Sofia. I actually came here to tell you that your dad and Arizona's parents brought a team of lawyers in today to sue the airline for what happened. They're in a conference room right now, working on some sort of plan." 

"Really? That's good. Knowing my father, that army of lawyers are probably the best money can afford." Callie eagerly accepted Sofia into her arms, only wincing a little bit as the baby decided to lean on her newly freed shoulder. The Latina adjusted her daughter to her other shoulder, smiling as the little girl giggled and held up a well-loved stuffed dog up to her mami's face. "Mami! Wow wow!" The little girl bopped the dog's head on Callie's lips in a sort of kiss before Sofia herself reached up and planted a sloppy baby kiss on her mother's lips. The innocent action of the little girl made everyone's, especially Callie's, heart melt. Sofia was the sweetest little girl, and it was obvious that she had a very deep bond with her. The Latina still could not find any recollection or even a glimpse of memory about this beautiful and innocent child in her arms, and it frustrated her now, just like it did when she first woke up. Callie could feel the familiar beginnings of a headache that was the same feeling she had during her first wake up and whatever else happened after, but she ignored it and plastered on a cheerful smile for everyone in the room, though it was mostly directed at the smiling baby in her arms.

"Thank you, baby girl. Is that your best buddy with you?" Callie inquired as she tickled the little girl's stomach, causing a round of sweet laughter from Sofia. The one-year-old rested her head against Callie's chest, "wow wow wubu mami" Sofia murmured before she turned her attention back to her stuffed dog. The Latina laughed at the baby gibberish, it was honestly the cutest thing she'd ever witnessed Sofia do. It made her feel like a proud mama at just how many words, although still hard to understand, her baby girl could say at just over a year old, and to think yesterday was the first time she even found out she even had a daughter. Even so, Callie's mothering instincts were in full display, and she found herself inhaling Sofia's sweet baby scent like crack. Crack baby! That thought caused Callie to snort softly. Sofia was her crack baby! 

A surprising jolt of pain in her head had Callie suddenly jerking back, and she tightened her hold on Sofia instinctively as her vision blurred for a moment. It was the same searing pain as last time she had passed out but it wasn't as strong, and it didn't last as long as it did nor did it cause her to pass out this time. That was a good thing because the Latina would probably never forgive herself if she'd caused the baby girl in her arms any harm. The jolt of pain was followed by an echo of a new recollection, though.

_ Voices and cooing, making baby sounds and the smell of baby powder and the feel of soft baby skin against her face as she continued to hold on to her baby girl. "She's a crack baby!" _

_ "Calliope! Don't call our daughter a crack baby!" _

_ "But she is! Just look at that precious…" _

Callie gasped as the memory faded out, and she looked up at the worried faces of Meredith and Arizona, both women had leaned forward to catch Sofia and Callie, it seemed. It felt like only seconds that she had drifted away into that memory. 

"Are you okay, Callie? You… you were staring blankly into nothing for a minute there, and you suddenly jerked up like you were electrocuted." Meredith inquired. Arizona was also sporting a worried expression as she sat down next to Callie, laying one hand on the Latina's shoulder while the other rested against Sofia's back. "Calliope?" The blonde inquired when Callie didn't respond to Meredith's question.

Slowly, the Latina looked down at Sofia, who was now busy playing and babbling to her stuffed dog, oblivious of the tension in the room as Meredith and Arizona waited for her to talk. "I… you hated when I would call Sofia a crack baby, and Mark was there, laughing and holding her. I remembered something about Sofia just now, how I love her baby scent, and Mark would… where is Mark, anyway?" Callie looked up, her new memory recollection suddenly cut off by her realization that her manwhore best friend had yet to visit her since she woke up. He would have at least checked on her, wouldn't he? "What?" The Latina frowned at the two women, both of whom looked uncomfortable and unable to look at her. "Is Mark Sloan too busy making skin like god to visit his friend? Why hasn't he even at least passed by or at least gone in here? Did he do something big in the last four years and become too important for us little people now?" The Latina joked, looking between the two women who could answer her because honestly, what could Sofia tell her other than to baby babble at her?

A curious thing about Sofia, though, is that she was very smart. It was something all three of her parents had always been incredibly proud of, their baby's incredible intelligence. Arizona would gush to her peds nurses and fellow doctors about her 16 weeks premature baby who had kicked every preemie’s ass in the NICU and was now kicking every one year old's ass with her milestones. Mark Sloan would constantly rub it in Derek's face that his daughter was catching up to baby Zola's development, even though Zola was months older than Sofia. Callie used to pretty much talk Miranda Bailey's ear off about her perfect little princess. At just over a year old, she could definitely recognize the names of her parents now. All three of her parents: Arizona Robbins-Torres(mama), Calliope "Callie" Robbins-Torres(mami), and Mark Sloan(dada). So when her mother mentioned her father's name, Sofia's head swiveled around, hoping to see the father she hadn't seen in as many months as she hadn't seen her favorite mami. "Dada?" Sofia inquired, little head swinging every which way trying to get a glimpse of her daddy. "Dada? Mew Mew? Dada?" This time, Sofia's attention had turned to her aunt Meredith, lovingly referred to as 'mew mew' ever since the brunette resident had taken it upon herself to take care of Sofia in the past two months. When she didn't get a response from a frozen Meredith, Sofia turned her attention to her mama. "Mama? Dada!" The baby demanded, while her mama just looked at her with sad eyes. Sofia's bottom lip trembled the more the adults in the room didn't answer her, so the little girl turned her attention back to the adult holding her right now. Her mami would know where her dada was, right? "Mami? Da..da..?" Sofia's lip trembled even more as she did a third inquiry of where her daddy was, this time fixing her teary eyes onto her mami, who looked to also be frozen with shock and confusion. When Callie also didn't respond to Sofia, the baby girl started whimpering, burying her face into her Latina mother's chest.

As soon as the baby in Callie's arms started demanding the presence of father, confusion took over the Latina's mind as she stared down at her child, a child she doesn't really remember but the resemblance and the confirmation from Arizona was all she really needed to start to accept this, as well as that piece of memory she recalled just now. As the Latina focused her eyes on the child, the two women in the room froze in shock and shared horror. Of all the things that little Sofia would come out to ask, they had both forgotten that the little girl had also yet to spend any time with her father who had also just recently woken up. Slate gray eyes meet with scared blue, and both women conveyed to each other their fear of this very conversation. Because as innocently as Sofia started to ask and demand for her third parent, it was something both women were hoping didn't come up until later, later when they actually could form a cohesive thought about explaining Sofia's paternity. But now, now the little girl's innocent, baby babbled queries were about to open up a can of worms with many many many difficult questions that would be so hard to answer while Arizona and Meredith both tried to avoid giving Callie too many details to avoid confusion and complications with regards to her recollections. Meredith already had to witness a heart-stopping seizure when the mere mention of something as simple as the identity of Arizona Robbins-Torres was explained, and the same thoughts were seemingly running through the blonde peds surgeon's head as the resident and the attending stared at each other in frozen shock, knowing that a shoe was about to drop on them like a hundred-pound weight.

The start of Sofia's cries must have finally snapped the adults in the room back into action as Callie immediately started shushing and soothing the now upset child. "Shh… it's okay, mija. Don't cry princess Sofia, mami's here," the Latina spoke in a soft voice, her eyes catching those of Arizona's with a clear question in them. "Arizona… who is Sofia's dad? Please tell me it's not him…" Callie was almost pleading with her wife to tell her that they had used a sperm donor to have Sofia, and not the manwhore of Seattle Grace. "Ari…?"

Arizona looked uncomfortable and looked away. Callie didn't remember everything that happened, and they couldn't give her too many details about the past, so how were they going to explain such a big part of it like this? "Umm… Mark is… He's… Calliope. It's hard to explain, and you know we can't give you too many details or even tell you a lot about the things that happened in the past four years because of…" the blonde struggled to explain, not really sure how she was going to spin this part of their lives.

"I know how we doctors treat patients with retrograde amnesia, Arizona. I know what we caution families to say or not say, what I'm asking you is simple. Is Marcus Everett Sloan our daughter's father?" Callie snapped, her frustration and annoyance showing through her tone even when her motions were calm and gentle as she continued to soothe the whimpering baby against her chest. Arizona looked down at the sheets and nodded, unable to look up, and feeling like she was in big trouble with the way Callie was looking at her. “Yes. Mark is Sofia’s biological dad,” Arizona muttered. Although she had finally accepted it, a hint of bitterness showed in the way the blonde said Mark’s name. The Latina holding the baby on the bed interprets this as bitterness for who the paternal father is but, in reality, Arizona holds the bitterness more for the situation at hand. This was not at all how she wanted this conversation to come about, she didn't even know how she was going to breach that part yet but fate seemed to have its own idea, and now the blonde was stuck and floundering for what to do. Hence, the slightly bitter bite of her words as Arizona resigned herself to this inevitable talk. She would have to try to explain to Callie an event that she would rather not recall at the moment, especially since this also opened up a plethora of other cans full of slimy disgusting worms that led to questions she wasn't really comfortable with or ready to answer. Questions like how Sofia was conceived, why the situation happened, where Arizona was when it happened, even a simple what happened was not something she was prepared for at the moment.

Callie frowned at this information. What the hell? Did she cheat on Arizona somehow? How did they stay together if that's what happened? Did they somehow get convinced by Mark Sloan to take his sperm for their child? That sounds insane and weird. This was weird. Callie Torres… Callie Robbins-Torres could not wrap her head around the absurdity of the situation. How did they raise Sofia? With three parents? But how about the non-biological mother? Did Arizona have rights? Was Callie even the one who gave birth? But it made sense that she was Sofia's mother, the little girl looked exactly like a baby version of the Latina, except for her eyebrows and her nose now that Callie thought about it. Sofia had Mark's eyebrows and his nose but that was it. Her baby was tan-skinned, had deep brown eyes, and a rounded face, although that could change and shape into her father's defined jawline when Sofia started to shed her baby fat, and her jet black hair was the same quality as Callie's. Speaking of hair, the Latina unconsciously lifted her free hand to the side of her head, only to be met by bandages. Going higher, there was still nothing, until her hand suddenly came in contact with skin. What the hell?

"What the… am I bald!?" Callie suddenly exclaimed, looking between the two women with her. "I'm bald, an amnesiac, crippled, and my baby's father is Mark Sloan, the manwhore of Seattle Grace! The fact that I have a kid in the first place is shocking in itself, I mean George and I were trying before he cheated on me and we got a divorce and then Erica happened, and then she left and suddenly I woke up from a damn coma and I have a wife! And a kid, Mark Sloan's kid! And and and… oh my God, please tell me I'm still a surgeon? No wait, of course, I am! They still call me Doctor, do I still work on bones? Tell me I didn't switch and took on a different specialty like Derm or something equally lame. Oh god, can you imagine me in dermatology? Oh my god, do I even still work here? oh my god… why are you two looking at me like that?" The Latina had gone into full panic mode as her anxiety about all the things she couldn't remember started up, and it got ridiculous the more she rambled, so now Meredith and Arizona were trying their best not to laugh out loud at the things Callie was saying. It pretty much broke the seriousness of the situation, and it was a good break from something neither woman was ready to tackle with Callie.

After a few more seconds of trying to reign in their laughter, the two women cracked up, much to the confusion and annoyance of Callie. “What’s so funny? I have legitimate concerns here!” This just caused the two other women to laugh harder, which made the baby in the Latina’s arms laugh as well at seeing her mama and aunt laughing. 

“You are funny,” Meredith finally gasped out. Callie watched as the resident wiped tears from her eyes from laughing so hard. “Thank you for that, Callie. We needed a good laugh.” The brunette and the blonde in the room continued to giggle for a few more seconds before they could finally compose themselves. Little Sofia was having the time of her life as she giggled along, leaning against her completely confounded Mami. The confused Latina let her wife and friend finish their giggle-fest before she asked another question, “but seriously… can you at least give me something to assure me that my life isn’t a complete wreck and that I’m not completely dependent on my wife. I… Oh my goodness, is my life a total wreck? Is that why you’re laughing?” The panic once again showed up and Callie was gearing up for another long-winded rant. 

Seeing the start of another breakdown from her wife, Arizona sobered up and quickly took Callie’s face in her hands and turned her head so they were seeing eye to eye. “Calliope. Calm down, honey. Your life is not a wreck, our life is not bad. We are both successful attending surgeons, heads of our departments even. Our baby is happy, healthy, and very much spoiled just from your father alone. We live in an awesome apartment that we’ve since bought. Between the two of us, we live a very comfortable life, Calliope. So stop worrying, okay? Stress won’t do your condition any good.” The blonde’s words finally broke through Callie’s anxiety and she relaxed, leaning on Arizona’s touch as she closed her eyes and took deep calming breaths.

“I’m okay now. Thank you, Arizona. I still have a lot of questions but I’m okay now.” Callie opened her eyes and smiled at Arizona. She was fine, her freak out was done, and she would be fine. There were a lot more questions in her head, and probably a lot more freakouts in the future but for now, she was calmed by the touch of her wife, the warm embrace of her baby, and the supporting presence of one of her friends. If this was what she’ll have for now, even with four years’ worth of memory lost, Callie Robbins-Torres felt fine. There would be more time to seek out all the answers she needed but for now, they could all use a break from the serious and heavy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you all think? It feels like a filler chapter but it's a setup for a lot of things. I'm not sure you'll notice it but there are clues here and there in this chapter for what's coming up.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed and thank you for reading my work  
> -Phoenixwrites


	13. The one where Callie where Callie finds out

**Hey lovelies! I'm so sorry this update took so long to get uploaded. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do for this chapter.  
**

**As always, I don't own Grey's Anatomy. There would have never been a Calzona breakdown if I did, and it would be a lot gayer. Just saying.**

**Thanks for the continued support, loves! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**-Phoenixwrites**

* * *

**Chapter 13: The one where Callie finds out**

With the prospect of a previously unknown, almost forgotten innovation that Callie Torres could now perfectly remember and possibly do or maybe teach someone to do, the Latina's room became a revolving door of curious residents and attendings going in and out to question her about it. Tom Koracick had more than once gotten to the orthopod's nerves, by making fun of Arizona or making rude comments, to the point that he'd walked out of her room drenched in water or be running out to a string of angry Spanish and dodging whatever item the Latina had on hand at the moment. More than once, it would be a clipboard or a thick notebook because Callie had been advised by Arizona, Dr. She-Shepherd, Meredith, Derek, Bailey, Webber, and pretty much everyone who came into her room to "take some damn notes so you don't lose possible life-changing and Harper Avery winning ideas, you fool!" That one was courtesy of the great Miranda Bailey, her favorite general surgery resident, attending now, and friend. Apparently, Callie and Bailey stopped being surgical rivals who sometimes talked personal stuff somewhere down the road and actually became good friends. That was an interesting development for the ortho surgeon, and the absence of their other residency fellow survivor, Sydney Heron, was another. Callie wouldn't really miss the overly positive, "heal with love" quoting woman but it was another change from the life she could remember.

It was now three days after her initial scans, and Callie, and Arizona too, was getting antsy about her own spinal injury and kind of excited about seeing little Grey's scans. Amelia, Arthur, and a reluctant Tom had held off on showing Callie the scans with the reason that they wanted to evaluate all other options first before including her previously unknown and still thought to be a radical treatment method. She had been awake for barely a week but the Latina was growing anxious, especially with the status of her spine. If anything was seriously wrong, Callie was in for a life in a wheelchair, and that was not something she looked forward to at all. "Is it just me or are they seriously dragging their feet about my scans? I'm not crazy, right? They're purposely dragging this out?" Callie questioned the only other person in the room with her at the moment, Arizona.

The blonde shook her head. "You're not crazy, Calliope. They are definitely taking their sweet time with it, but I think they're doing it so that they can give you the best possible outcome so we have to stay positive okay?" Arizona smiled, being the voice of reason to Callie's current craziness. It seemed that it would be their routine for a while, Callie going crazy and Arizona calming her down. The Latina huffed but didn't say anything, just leaning back against her pillows. Arizona herself was sitting up on her own bed for the first time in days, and returned to playing some puzzle game on her phone, the loud commentary of the game being the only noise in the room for a few seconds before Callie spoke again.

"Where's Sofia? Shouldn't Meredith be bringing her here right about now?" Arizona looked up from her game and looked at the clock on the wall. It was indeed the start of visiting hours, and Meredith usually brought their daughter in around this time or one the parents. "Sofia went home with Mom and dad at the apartment yesterday, they might have stopped somewhere before coming here," the blonde offered as an explanation.

Callie shrugged, "I miss her. Was I always this clingy towards our daughter?" She asked.

Arizona giggled, nodding. "We're all baby hogs but Sofia loves cuddling with her Mami. She loves being held in your arms when we go out. You and your mini-me are impossible to separate when our little miss feels like it. It feels like Mark and I just share time at home with her, she's pretty much glued to you otherwise." Callie's jaw clenched at the mention of Mark Sloan. She didn't remember being close enough to the manwhore yet other than their mistakes during her confusion about her sexuality and Erica, so her reaction was pretty much annoyance and anger over the fact that she'd probably committed another mistake with this man while in a relationship with a wonderful woman.

Callie looked down, lost in her thoughts and self reprimanding. She vaguely registered that Arizona had stopped giggling, going silent as well when she realized that the Latina wasn't as amused by the story. A hand on her arm made the Latina flinch, "Calliope? What's wrong?"

"Did I… I cheated on you, didn't I? That's why there's Sofia, and why Mark Sloan is the father and… God! Why are you still with me, why are we still married if I did that to you? I… I'm not a cheater, I hate cheaters ever since George did what he did… and then… Did I?" Callie inquired with a small voice, her tone becoming more and more distressed and breaking as tears started to form in her eyes.

A shift in the bed signaled that Arizona had moved beside her, and soon, Callie was engulfed in the warm, loving safety of the blonde's embrace. This pretty much broke the dam, and the ortho surgeon couldn't help but cry on her wife's shoulder. "Oh Calliope. Shhh… there's so much we need you to remember, but one thing you have to know right now is that you are not a cheater. You are the most loyal, loving, passionate lover and wife. You didn't cheat on me with Mark. He's more of… a sperm donor than anything, but he did want to be involved with Sofia so we agreed to co-parent our daughter so she grows up with a father. He's a wonderful father, he even started learning Spanish for Sofia because you insist that our daughter grow up bilingual." It was technically a lie, but Callie didn't need to know about the real circumstances of Sofia's conception yet. In Arizona's mind, this little lie would be enough for now and it wouldn't put too much stress on her wife or increase her confusion.

The sperm donor comment elicited a strained laugh from the Latina, finally helping her calm down. "So we're good?" Callie asked as she pulled away from the embrace enough to see Arizona's face but not enough to break the embrace. The blonde answered with her brilliant dimpled smile, making the Latina's breath catch in her throat at the sight. "We're good. So good in fact that we're the poster gay couple of Seattle Grace Mercy West. People have even come to us for advice," there was a playful quality in Arizona's voice as she said this and it made Callie smile.

"Poster gay couple huh? So the hospital doesn't look at me as the poster child of train wreck relationships anymore?" Callie teased. Arizona laughed and shook her head, amusement dancing in those ocean blue eyes. "You weren't a train wreck. No one even thought of you like that when I first got here four years ago. Didn't I tell you? The talk was good. They were all worried about you, and interested. I'm just glad I jumped the line and got to you first," the blonde replied, giving Callie a playful wink.

Callie's deep belly laugh echoed around her room, soon joined by the musical sound of Arizona's own laughter. The Latina definitely felt safe and lighter when she was with her blonde wife, the concept of having a wife itself becoming more and more acceptable the more time they spent together. The two continued to giggle over anecdotes and stories Arizona would tell about the times before they met, and Callie shared her own tales of living in the hospital basement and other shenanigans she had been doing when she was a resident. They were so caught up in each other that they didn't notice the door opening or the shuffle of feet and the squeak of wheels on the floor until someone cleared their throat.

Brown and blue turned toward the source of the noise to see Meredith, Derek, and Cristina staring at them. The three made for quite the sight, in Callie's opinion. Meredith was behind Derek's wheelchair, a diaper bag on either shoulder, a smile playing on her lips. Derek was wearing his McDreamy smile, though it looked kind of forced, while a stack of papers and a notebook were clenched in one hand over his lap. Cristina was the oddest sight of all for Callie. The ruthless cardio obsessed woman had a baby strapped to her chest in some sort of complicated-looking baby wrap, while she pushed Sofia in a stroller. Cristina didn't look scary at all, and her face wasn't even arranged in her signature scowl. No, Cristina Yang wasn't even paying attention to the adults in the room; the Korean woman was busy making silly faces at the baby strapped to her chest. The squeals of happiness from the black baby was the only sound for a good few seconds before Callie spoke.

"Who are you and what did you do to my roommate who ate children in the peds ward for breakfast?" The Latina blurted out. Cristina glared at the Latina but a small baby hand smacking her face effectively neutralized the glare, and this caused a chain reaction from everyone in the room. Arizona started giggling again, trying to hide her laughter behind Callie but obviously failing miserably as the blonde's whole body shook and small snorts and giggles kept coming out. It triggered Callie to laugh, not even hiding the fact as she laughed out loud. This caused Meredith to bite her lip, trying hard to contain her own laughter until Cristina turned her glare to the brunette, which caused Meredith to lose it as the baby on Cristina's chest once again reached up and this time grabbed at the Korean's lip. Derek, seeing this, also lost his composure and everyone in the room save for Cristina was laughing. Even the babies laughed along, pulled by the laughter of their parents.

Cristina scowled as she pried Zola's hand away from her face. "Laugh it up. I'm definitely turning my goddaughters into cutthroat cardio goddesses when they get older. Isn't that right, Zozo? Sof? You two aren't going to be lame carpenters, kiddie surgeons, or play with brains. No, you're both going to be hardcore cardio goddesses like your aunt Cristina," cooed the Korean as she unstrapped Sofia from the stroller and positioned her on her hip.

Callie shook her head at Cristina's antics. "Sofia barely speaks complete sentences, Cristina." This got the Latina a raised eyebrow from the Korean before Cristina turned to Sofia, the baby busy having a babbled conversation with Zola. "Watch this, Torres. Let's show your mommies what you learned, Sofibear." Cristina ignored the renewed snickering at her pet name for the little Latina. Cristina caught Sofia's attention and pointed to herself, "what does aunt Cristina do, Sof?"

The four other adults watched the little Latina as she scrunched up her face, her cute nose wrinkling as she thought about her answer. "Cardo s...s...shurden!" The little girl cheered as she remembered what her aunt Cristina taught her, clapping her hands as Cristina gave the little girl kisses on her face for a job well done, much to the shock of the parents in the room. "Good job, Sofibear! Now you, Zozo. What does aunt Cristina do?" The little girl on Cristina's chest giggled before answering. "Caryo shuren!" This exclamation was also rewarded with kisses from the Korean resident, something completely out of character from the normally almost heartless and blunt woman who doesn't want children.

Callie was thoroughly impressed, both by her daughter's intelligence and the humanity and care that her former roommate was displaying towards the children. This was something that she had never expected from the Korean woman, especially with how much she avoided the peds ward in the hospital. "Wow Cristina… you…" the Latina was suddenly cut off by a loud shushing from her former roommate.

"We're not done. Okay, Sof. What does your aunt mew mew do?" Cristina turned Sofia so she was facing Meredith and Derek. Again, the little latina scrunched up her face but seemed to be having a harder time pronouncing general surgery. "G...ge… gernal sur...surgy!" Sofia's exclamation was followed by Zola's "mommy geremal surgy!" This time, all five adults in the room praised them, making the little girls beam and giggle at the attention. "What about daddy Der? What does he do?" Cristina pointed to Derek, who beamed at the two little girls.

Sofia and Zola looked at each other before turning towards Derek. "Nuro surgy! Daddy/Unc Der!" This time, Sofia and Zola both spoke at the same time. This earned them another round of praises from the now proudly beaming parents. "And what about mama Zona?" Cristina turned her body so that both babies can look at the blonde peds surgeon. "Baby surgy?" Sofia asked while Zola said "peas surgy! Yucky peas!" This caused Arizona to pout, while everyone laughed. "Close enough, Sof. Zozo, aunty Zona does peds surgery. Not peas," Cristina explained. Zola nodded, though she still looked confused.

"What about me, Sof? What does mami do?" Callie chimed in, her proud smile just as big as everyone else's. Sofia once again scrunched up her face while Zola smiled at Callie, "Mami Cawwie do or...or...orto!" It was Zola who answered first, using Sofia's term for Callie instead of aunty. The older Latina laughed and clapped her hands, praising the little girl. This caused Sofia to pout, shaking her head. "No! My mami! Not Zozo! MY MAMI!" Apparently no one else was allowed to call her mami except Sofia, because the little latina was now in the beginnings of a tantrum at the simple slip from her best friend. Callie, and everyone, was surprised at this. Cristina quickly walked over to Callie, and Sofia almost launched herself out of the Korean's hold. Luckily, Callie had been able to catch her. Sofia buried her face against her mother's chest, hands gripping the thin hospital gown as she sniffled and glared at the other child in the room, taking on an unusual possessive hold on Callie. "My Mami. Sofia Mami. Mami? Sof mami, otay?" Sofia turned her attention to Callie and tugged on the hospital gown.

"Of course I'm your Mami, mija, but we also have to share. That wasn't very nice, Sofia. Say sorry to your friend and aunt Cristina." Callie gently chided her daughter as she held her close. She did good right? Parents are supposed to do stuff like this? She sneaked a glance over towards Arizona, unsure of her action. Arizona was smiling and nodded encouragingly. Callie let out a relieved sigh. She did good with that one. Sofia whimpered and buried her face in her mami's chest before finally turning towards Cristina and Zola. "Sowwie Zozo, sowwie 'stina," Sofia mumbled before burying her face against Callie's chest again.

Cristina waved off the apology, handing Zola off to Meredith as she plopped herself down on a chair. "Sof must be having some separation anxiety. You didn't see you in over two months. She did the same possessive stunt with Arizona when we got discharged, wouldn't even let Arizona pick up Zola for the first week or so. Well… that just means I can't take Zola with me when I visit Sloan next door. Might have to have a tight hold on her, a flying baby to the chest might just kill him." Cristina stopped and asked "what?" When everyone went silent.

"Cristina… why is Mark next door?" Callie asked. The Korean looked around her, at the guilty expressions on Meredith and Arizona's faces, the contemplative one on Derek's, and Callie's confusion.

Something clicked in Cristina's head and she let out a puff of air. "Oh," though she didn't really look remorseful about her slip. "They haven't told you, huh? Sloan was also in the crash. It was you, me, Arizona, Derek, Meredith, Lexie, and Mark. We were stranded for four days, and you, Lexie, and Mark were critical, you and Mark especially. Mark had a massive hemothorax, and you had what we thought was a concussion until you collapsed and we had to drill a hole in your skull. Lexie was crushed under the plane but you found a way to free her, just like you freed Derek's hand over there. You set and splinted Arizona's leg. Really, you helped us a lot on our first day, and during the second before you collapsed. I'm not really sure who would be here if you weren't there… what?" Cristina frowned when a pillow came flying at her from Arizona, her story cut off as she caught the offering item.

"Retrograde amnesia, Cristina!" The blonde exclaimed. The resident scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I'm not stupid, Arizona. I didn't give Cal enough details for it to affect her memory recovery. Chill out." Cristina rolled her eyes again before throwing the pillow back at Arizona. She was right though, there wasn't really anything in Cristina's story that could confuse Callie. The recap was vague and gave just enough for the story to make sense but not enough to possibly give too much away. The Latina sighed, even though it was vague, it gave her some idea of what happened to them. Four days. Four days out in God only knows where, while everyone here was either going crazy or completely unaware of what happened, like the little girl currently curled up against her chest. Callie realized that if all three of them were in the crash, Sofia had almost been orphaned. This realization made her tighten her hold just a little bit, and she turned her gaze to Arizona's sad blue eyes. The blonde was also probably thinking along the same lines, and so were Derek and Meredith as everyone descended into silence. If the crash had gone differently, the two little girls that were cuddled right now against their own mothers would have been orphaned. That was a scary thought, even if Callie couldn't remember yet, it brought a sharp pain in her chest at how close two innocent children came to losing their families.

"Who was taking care of Sofia before we were rescued? How's Mark doing? And Lexie?" Callie inquired, leaving the question for anyone to answer. Arizona once again scooted closer to Callie, one arm wrapping around her waist while her other hand rubbed circles on Sofia's back. The blonde didn't speak, just wanting to be closer to her family. "Bailey was taking care of Sofia for you when we were gone. Mark is… he lost one of his lungs to an infection, dr. Hahn has been monitoring him closely for complications while they wait for a donor. He's still weak right now but he's been asking for Sofia, and Lexie…" Meredith sighed. "Lexie is paralyzed from the waist down, and Dr. Sheen had to amputate one of her legs. She's alive, but she's slowly losing that spark that makes her Lexie. She was our optimist during the days in the forest, and I just… can your hypothermic method really help her walk again?" Callie can almost feel the desperation in Meredith's question. How hard it must be for her friend right now, a paralyzed sister and a husband who could possibly lose his career.

"I have to see the scans. I've been waiting here for three days now but none of the doctors have come back with anything. I can't make a plan if I don't know what I'm working with," Callie explained. She really couldn't say anything definitive if she didn't know what Lexie's spine looked like, and she also wanted to see her own scans for the possibility of using the treatment on herself. Callie was determined to walk again, to feel something below her waist again. Right now, she was in the same boat as Lexie. Confined to a bed and for all intents and purposes, crippled and unable to go anywhere without a wheelchair and assistance. It didn't feel good at all. Meredith nodded in understanding, "I'll see what I can do, Callie. I just want to do everything we can to help Lexie."

Derek took the pause in the conversation to say his piece. "Callie, do you think you can take a look at these? These are the scans of my hand, and the notes are research notes that a resident found in your lab regarding a new technique in hand surgery that you had been working on. The orthopedic surgeon on our cases is refusing to do the surgery, saying it's too new and risky but I think he just doesn't know how to do it." Meredith pushed Derek closer and the man handed over the stack of papers to Callie. Handing over the now calm Sofia to Arizona, the Latina studied the stack of papers and the copy of Derek's hand x-ray. "This is my handwriting. I developed this? Wow. This will definitely work for your type of injury, especially with the nerve damage. It doesn't use synthetic nerve grafts, though. We need a family member to donate the nerves to help with the connections here. Why is Dr. Sheen refusing to do this? It's not a difficult surgery, you just need steady hands and a complete knowledge of hand anatomy and the nervous system." Callie continued to read over her notes, switching between that and the X-Ray film of Derek's hand.

Derek looked relieved at the news. He had been hoping that Callie would be able to help with this since Dr. Sheen was refusing to do the surgery. "So you can do it?" Derek asked. Callie sighed and took her eyes off the papers, shaking her head. "In my current state? I can't. My scalpel hand needs intensive physical therapy before I can operate again." Callie holds up her hand and shows Derek the limited movement that she could do right now, which is a very shaky barely closed fist. Derek physically deflated when he saw this. Callie was his last hope to regain his hand function. "I'm sorry, Derek. Maybe we can ask the chief if we can request another orthopedic surgeon to take on your case? He found Erica, maybe he could get another orthopedic surgeon who isn't a wimp about trying new surgery techniques? And we need a good plastic surgeon to help with the nerve grafts too," Callie suggested. She hoped she was right that they could find someone willing to do the surgery because waiting even a few weeks for her to finish therapy on her hands would risk permanent damage to Derek's hand.

Derek nodded, sighing. "We'll see. Thanks, Callie." With that, Derek and Meredith walk out of the room, heading for the next room where Mark and Lexie were, leaving the small family and Cristina in the room. The notes still clutched in Callie's hands.


End file.
